


The Girl with the Yellow Pom-Poms

by Neige18



Series: Tethers of Air and Water [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Angst, Angst and Humor, Developing Friendships, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Ikki appreciation, Ikki deserves more attention okay, Introspection, Ming-Hua appreciation, Ming-Hua backstory, Red Lotus (Avatar), ikki being ikki, series ultimately has a happy ending so don't be discouraged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neige18/pseuds/Neige18
Summary: Ikki meets Ming-Hua while she is still imprisoned and the two form an unlikely bond, despite all the lies by omission that ultimately precipitate a series of devastating events from the Red Lotus attack on the Northern Air Temple onwards.
Series: Tethers of Air and Water [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966189
Comments: 63
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

There was a tour group today.

Besides the guard shifts and the changing sky, which she could see through the bars of the roof, Ming-Hua had no concept of the passage of time. There was no need, anyways. But she guessed that the prison tours had started a couple of years ago.

“Don’t bother thinking anyone will come bust you out,” one of the guards had sneered as they threw her in. “No one knows this place even exists. You’ll all be forgotten as dead soon enough.”

She’d felt an unimaginable wave of despondent rage, then.

Perhaps they'd gotten lax over the years, but the White Lotus evidently felt it was secure enough to permit tours. Though they were very few and far between, and only limited to Fire Nation schoolchildren. No doubt she was meant to serve as a cautionary tale to the intrepid brats.

_Be good little brainwashed cogs in the machine, kids, or you’ll end up locked away just like her._

Despite the break in monotony, Ming-Hua much preferred the ceaseless boredom of solitude. The children gawked at her like she was some freakish animal at the circus, and the bolder ones dared each other to run up and stick their hands through the bars. Some taunted her with the petty insults of the young. Of course, the guards did nothing. The more boorish ones took pleasure in seeing her so degraded.

The first time she had simply stared stony-faced through her curtain of hair, refusing to give them an ounce of entertainment. The second time she had lunged towards them just for kicks, feeling a twinge of amusement when several leapt back, shrieking. The others just laughed.

Today’s group was composed of primary schoolers. Ming-Hua sat cross-legged in the middle of her cage, staring at them with her usual impassiveness as they came to a stop a few feet away. The teacher, a stout man with graying hair, was chatting up one of the guards further down the walkway. The students fanned out, and Ming-Hua’s gaze immediately snagged on the small girl squeezing her way to the front. Dressed in casual attire, she stood out amongst the sea of uniforms. And unlike her classmates, who wore their hair loose or with plain hair ties, hers were fastened by bright yellow pom-poms into two buns on either side of her head.

Things must’ve changed since she’d been locked away, Ming-Hua mused. The last she had known, the Fire Nation was strict about dress code.

The girl gazed at her, taking her in with excited wonder. To Ming-Hua’s surprise, she smiled and waved as though greeting a passerby.

“Armless freak!” jeered one of the girls, quickly followed by a chorus of _ooooh_ and giggles.

Ming-Hua showed no flicker of emotion. It was nothing she hadn’t gotten used to long ago, but she still couldn’t help the spark of anger that flared up. If she could bend, she would’ve encased the girl's legs in ice and left her there to thaw out.

“Whatcha gonna do about it? Can’t get me from in there!” the girl continued.

The guards flanking the group exchanged smirks. One of the decent ones – she knew he was named Yang through snippets of overhead conversation – stared down at his feet.

“Knock it off!” came an indignant voice.

Ming-Hua’s gaze snapped back to the pom-pom girl. She was standing with hands clenched at her sides, glaring at the other girl.

“Awww, feel bad for the freak?” The offending girl stuck out her bottom lip in a mocking pout. “Maybe you should join her then. We’ll throw you both some fireflakes.”

“I’d _rather_ be in there with her than a bunch of wimps like you guys! You’re real brave, picking on a defenseless lady in a cage. Why don’t you pick on _them_ –” the pom-pom girl thrust out an arm, pointing at a surprised guard, “– if you’re so tough? I bet none of you have the guts to fight grown-up firebenders in a volcano.” She folded her arms and lifted her chin.

_Oh. Wow._

Ming-Hua took in the scene with rapt attention. Of all the things she could’ve expected, a child sticking up for her hadn't come close to making the radar. She felt a surge of gratitude and respect for the girl. She had gumption, that was for sure.

The offending girl flushed but could not come up with a retort to save face.

“Um – alright kids, let’s continue our tour,” Yang said, finally taking charge of the situation. “We’ll head to the command station next.”

The pom-pom girl stuck out her tongue at the backs of the retreating group but did not follow them. “Ugh, people are such jerks sometimes!”

Then, to Ming-Hua’s surprise, she approached the cage, her expression instantly brightening. “Hi I’m Ikki. What’s your name? And why don’t you have any arms? Were you born like that or did you lose them in an accident or a fight? Oops! I’m sorry, one time I asked this man who was missing a foot what happened to it and he told me it was a rude question and to go away. And I really don’t mean to offend you so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But does that mean you have to eat with your feet? Because I heard of someone who can do that and I think it’d be so cool to learn except I’m not that flexible,” she piped, not once pausing for breath.

Ming-Hua blinked, her brain spinning. Besides those lovely interrogation sessions - which didn't really count, seeing as they were so one-sided - she hadn’t had a conversation since her imprisonment. However long ago _that_ was.

The first thing Ming-Hua comprehended was that the child had one of those high-pitched voices, the kind she expected of squealing girls during a sleepover pillow fight. It would’ve grated on her nerves under different circumstances. She glanced at the two remaining guards. One of them looked at the girl, then glanced at Ming-Hua before shrugging and returning to his conversation. No doubt thinking that one small child couldn’t possibly pose a security threat, and that there was nothing Ming-Hua could do from inside the cage anyways.

“Ikki?” Ming-Hua repeated, her voice unpleasantly raspy to her own ears.

“Yup!” The girl nodded, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She came closer, and Ming-Hua saw that she had bright gray eyes much lighter than her own. “Now tell me yours.”

“Ming-Hua," the waterbender replied, pitching her voice low so the guards wouldn't overhear. Not that they were paying attention, anyways.

“Ooh, that’s such a pretty name.” Ikki clasped her hands together. “I wish I had one like yours. I don’t mind it most of the time, but my little brother likes to annoy me by saying I’m so _icky,_ so then I have to knock him over. Mom must’ve been hitting the cactus juice when she named me.”

Ming-Hua laughed – first time she had done so for any reason other than an amusing thought popping up. She shook her long hair out of her face. “Parents don’t always think through the consequences of a name.”

“So…no offense, but could you please tell me what happened to your arms? I really want to know,” Ikki went on eagerly.

“I’m used to it. I’ve been getting that question since I could talk. I was born without them.” Ming-Hua shifted closer to the bars. “And yes, I can eat with my feet. That was how I fed myself before I learned I was a waterbender. And now that’s the only way,” she added a bit bitterly.

They simply left the food tray for her to help herself. Only when it was water did they feed her by attaching the cup to a long metal claw and pushing it through the bars, after first chaining her feet just to be safe. Afterwards, she had to open her mouth to show them that she had swallowed it all. But every so often a guard would knock over her food so that she was forced to eat it off the floor like a dog, or tantalizingly pour the water down into the lava below and refuse to bring her more until the next day. She never gave them the satisfaction of seeing how much it made her blood boil, but in her fantasies she tortured them slowly – skewering them through various parts of their body with ice blades, slitting their throats and watching them drown in their own blood, snagging them with a water tendril and tossing them into the lava.

At least having to eat with her feet kept her flexible. She was grateful that she’d retained the skill, not wanting to be completely dependent on her waterbending.

“They told us they keep you in here so you can’t waterbend,” Ikki said, her cheery demeanor faltering.

“Exactly.”

“Well, that’s just awful. I can’t imagine if I wasn’t allowed to –” Ikki cut off abruptly, eyes going wide as though she’d nearly divulged a secret.

“Are you a bender, kid?” Ming-Hua asked.

“No,” Ikki replied, glancing away quickly. “But I know lots of them.” She turned back to Ming-Hua. “So what did you do to get stuck in here? They wouldn't tell us, just that you’re dangerous and need to be kept away from society, so I know it must've been something really bad.”

That made sense. The children hadn’t even known her name. The White Lotus wouldn’t want word getting out.

“Did you kill someone?” Ikki asked, with a mixture of morbid excitement and horror.

Oh, Ming-Hua _definitely_ had no intention of fully answering _that_ first question. As soon as Ikki asked why she’d attempted to kidnap the Avatar – as she doubtless would – the guards would descend on her like vultures. Those witless investigators had been trying to pry it out of her for years. But the last question was perfect. Let Ikki think that homicide was her only crime.

“Yes,” Ming-Hua answered with a grin, straightening. She watched with amusement how the girl’s eyes grew even wider. “But no one that didn’t deserve it.”

“Um...okay...wow.” Ikki took a step back.

Ming-Hua shrugged apathetically. “Don’t ask questions if you can’t handle the answers, kid.”

Ikki scrunched up her face and folded her arms. “I can _too_ handle it!”

She tilted her head, regarding Ming-Hua, and the waterbender was reminded of a bird. “You don’t act like a bad guy. You just seem like a normal person. But I bet if you had your bending you’d be really scary, huh?”

Ming-Hua gave a wry smile. “Smart bet.”

“How old are you? You don’t look that old, so you’re definitely younger than my dad and aunt and uncle but maybe around my mom’s age.”

“You call them old? I don’t think they’d appreciate that. Anyways, I don’t know. I lost track long ago.”

“Well, I’m seven. I’ll be eight in one month and nine days,” Ikki said brightly. “And my mom is thirty-five so you’re probably somewhere around there.”

“That’s nice.”

One of the guards approached. “Alright, kid, time to head back.”

Ikki scrunched up her nose. “Actually, you may as well lock me up in here too. I’m _so_ grounded once I get back to Daddy.”

Ming-Hua raised her eyebrows. “He doesn’t know you’re here?”

“Well...I might’ve...sort of...wandered away and caught the ferry over here because it looked fun,” Ikki said a little sheepishly, although Ming-Hua noted the proud glint of rebellion in her eyes.

Ah. So she wasn’t part of the school group, merely tagged along. That explained her clothes.

“Come on, we need to switch shifts soon,” the guard said impatiently.

Ming-Hua felt a pang of disappointment. The kid was interesting, if not a little tiring. She doubted she’d have good company again.

Ikki waved as she turned to leave. “Bye, Ming-Hua. See you soon.”

Ming-Hua snorted, stretching out her legs. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Ikki spun around and flounced back to the cage, leaning in close with a grin. A small breeze accompanied her sudden movement, momentarily displacing the perpetual stench of sulfur with a faint whiff of lily. “I don’t. Bye!”

Ikki skipped away.

She was, Ming-Hua noted, quite light on her feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series was inspired when I thought about how bored Ming-Hua was in prison and how Ikki would be perfect company, given her talkative nature and Ming-Hua's interest in stories. Also, I don't know about you guys, but it irks me that Ikki is constantly overshadowed and left out by her siblings. And when she does get the spotlight, it's in the context of sibling rivarly. Not hating on Jinora and Meelo, but I just think Ikki deserves a character arc, so this is my attempt. Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Ming-Hua was lying on her back with her legs stretched out, idly staring up at the sky. The bars obstructed her view, but she could still make out the shapes of the puffy clouds. 

That one looked like a dog holding up its front paws, begging its master for a treat.

That one looked like a scoop of thick ice cream. If the dog were facing the opposite direction, he would see it. Actually, better that he didn’t if it was chocolate. 

That small one nearly out of her frame of view looked like a bird with wings extended in flight. 

Ming-Hua hardly paid mind to the familiar mechanical whirring of the walkway extending down to the cage from the platform above, nor the footsteps that followed. The guards did this three times a day to deliver meals and water, but she wasn’t hungry at present. The gruel was almost always cold anyways, so she could simply leave it for later. 

“...do this at night too? The lava looks so bright I bet you wouldn’t even need a flashlight. Do you get scared? What if the walkway falls? You guys really should get a net.”

Wait a second. She knew that voice. 

Ming-Hua immediately pulled herself into a sitting position and spun around to face the walkway. Her eyebrows shot up in surprised recognition as her gaze landed on the small girl walking alongside a frazzled guard.

“You have a visitor, Ming-Hua. Spirits knows why she insists on seeing you,” said the guard, whom Ming-Hua recognized by face but not name. 

“Hi, Ming-Hua!” Ikki waved and bounced over to the cage. 

The guard rubbed his temples. “You have fourty-five minutes. Yang! Get down here, you’re taking this shift!” he called up to the platform as he walked away. 

“Better hop to it, Yang, babysitting duty calls!” taunted a female guard, with the light tone one reserved for friendly banter. 

“You want me to singe off your eyebrows, Kiki?” Yang retorted. 

Ming-Hua laughed, her amusement compounded by Ikki’s instantly affronted expression.

The girl scrunched up her face and spun around with folded arms. “Hey!” she yelled indignantly up to the platform. “For your information, I came all the way here all by myself. So I do _not_ need babysitting!” 

“Don’t take it personal,” Ming-Hua told her breezily. “They have to supervise us to make sure I don’t try anything funny.”

“Well, that’s just a waste of time,” Ikki remarked. “You can’t do anything from in there.”

“I know, but they’re paranoid. Can’t say I blame them.”

While there was nothing she could physically do to escape, the guards had to make sure that she didn’t use Ikki to gain or pass on information that might help her escape. At present, she didn’t see how she could, but once she figured out a way she wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Anyways, Ikki was such a blabbermouth that Ming-Hua hoped it was only a matter of time before her location reached the right ears. Far stretch, though. For now, she'd just have to be satisfied with the girl’s company. 

“So you came back after all.”

Ikki beamed. “Told you I would. And you didn’t believe me.”

“I’m impressed you pulled it off. But...why?” Ming-Hua was genuinely baffed. They were nobody to each other. Spirits, she had flat-out admitted to the girl that she was in for murder. Yet here Ikki was, acting like she was simply visiting a neighbor down the block. 

“To see you,” Ikki responded, as though it were the most obvious thing under the sun. 

She sat down opposite Ming-Hua, and the waterbender noticed how she folded her legs in the half-lotus position instead of the common cross-legged posture. 

“You need company. Isolation is bad for your mental health. I don't know how you survived thirteen years in here without totally losing your mind. I haven't even been _alive_ for that long! Anyways, I like talking to you. You’re nice, and you don’t get annoyed when I ask you lots of questions,” Ikki replied as Yang took up his post beside the cage.

“Thanks, I’m honored,” Ming-Hua said truthfully. Of course, she didn’t believe that the girl cared about her on any significant level. She didn't even know her. She was likely just lonely and seeking company. But at any rate, she appreciated that Ikki had her wellbeing in mind. 

“Of course!” Ikki chirped. And in the next second, she was pouncing on Yang. “I’ll let you babysit me if it’ll keep that guard’s eyebrows safe. How do you singe off someone’s eyebrows without burning their face and leaving an ugly scar like Lord Zuko’s? I did it once when I was blowing out the birthday candles and leaned in too close, but I don’t know how you’d do it with firebending.”

“Um...it was just a joke,” Yang said awkwardly. 

“You came here by yourself?” Ming-Hua asked Ikki, rescuing Yang. “Don’t tell me you ran away again. I don’t want them adding a charge of kidnapping.”

_Another one._

“No. They know I’m having a sleepover with my friend. I’m seeing you first, then heading over to her house.”

From the corner of her eye, Ming-Hua saw Yang shift uncomfortably. No doubt thinking how much trouble the staff would be in if it was discovered that they’d been letting an unaccompanied child visit a terrorist. Indeed, she was surprised they even permitted it. Given the look of that other guard, she wondered if Ikki had simply worn them down with ceaseless chatter. 

“The guards told me we’re not allowed to talk about certain stuff, but I still have a ton of questions,” Ikki went on, leaning forward on her forearms with barely contained excitement. 

Ming-Hua smiled. “Ask away.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was originally a separate oneshot in the series, but I decided to make it a multichapter story to be more organized. We'll finally see Ikki's perspective in the next chapter. The action will pick up after the background is established, so hang tight and thanks for reading! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**_Nine days ago_ **

Ikki stared adoringly at the sequined red-and-white dragon puppet hanging on the rack amidst its fellows of varying colors. She’d buy it, but she didn’t have enough money after having purchased a bag of rock candy earlier. She still had half of it in her pocket. 

Ikki was the only one who had a friend in the Fire Nation, so it was usually just her and Daddy visiting, but today the whole family – except for a tired Pema – had come out to see a play. Ikki and Jinora found plays more fun than the movers Meelo preferred, but he wouldn’t hear of being left behind.

“Seriously, how long does it take to get fireflakes? I told them they should’ve done it during intermission, but _noooo,_ they thought the line would be too long,” Ikki huffed, heading to the doorway and looking down both ends of the bustling tourist street. “Well, I bet it’s even longer now. I’m going to be older than Daddy by the time they get back. I'm going to be older than _Lord Zuko!"_

Daddy had told her not to move from the shop, but she didn’t think he’d mind if it was just across the street. She stepped out, blending easily into the foot traffic. Daddy and her siblings had kept their usual Air Nomad attire, but Ikki had taken to wearing Fire Nation clothes whenever she visited. They were much prettier, and no one looked at her funny. Too bad Taiping was visiting her uncle today and couldn’t hang out. She’d love the story that Ikki had just remembered of how Grandpa Aang, Gran-Gran Katara, and their friends had gone undercover as Fire Nation citizens.

Ikki entered a shop at random, but she only needed a quick sweep to determine that it sold the same merchandise. Boring. What was the point of having two shops, then? They might as well become one big business. If they were competing for customers, wouldn’t it make sense to sell unique merchandise? She voiced her skepticism to the young shop attendant, who eyed her disinterestedly and replied, “Look, I don’t know. I just work here. Are you going to buy something or not?”

Which Ikki thought was quite rude for no reason, so she left without answering him. Back in the other shop, her family still hadn’t come back. Okay, now she was convinced that they had gone to do something fun without her. Jinora probably didn’t want her coming along.

“Fine, if _that’s_ the way you want it, then _I’m_ going to go find something to do by _myself!_ ” Ikki asserted aloud as she wandered down the street. She didn’t feel like checking out more shops, so she decided to go down to the docks, just a block away. She liked watching the ships.

The docks were a blend of commercial and tourist life with fishing boats and ferries, as well as kayaks and canoes for rent. Ikki eyed the latter with delight. She’d been canoeing with Aunt Kya before, but never by herself.

“How much for a ride?” she asked the nearest canoe man.

“Five silver pieces. Are your parents with you?”

Ikki shook her head.

“Sorry. I can’t offer rides to unaccompanied children. Maybe come back later with your parents,” the man said politely.

“That’s alright. Thanks.” She didn’t have that much money anyways. She waved to the man and walked on.

“But seriously, what’s the big deal?” Ikki mused as she went along. “It’s not like I’m trying to sneak into a bar.”

Which she knew from personal experience.

Grownups never let kids do anything by themselves, yet they often refused to do fun stuff with them. Unless they were like Aunt Kya and Uncle Bumi and sometimes Mommy. _Especially_ Uncle Bumi. “It’s a conspiracy,” Ikki concluded, holding a finger up in the air.

As she came across one of the piers, she spotted a group of schoolchildren her age and their teacher waiting for a ferry, chatting amongst themselves. Ikki approached and tapped the girl nearest her. “Are you on a field trip? Where are you going?”

The girl turned around, gave Ikki a once-over, and replied in a snooty tone, “Mind your own business.” She sounded just like Jinora sometimes, except meaner.

“Oh, go jump in the water!” Ikki retorted. She could’ve said _off a waterfall_ like she’d heard Aunt Kya tell Daddy, but she didn’t want to be _that_ mean.

She asked someone else, a boy.

“We’re going to see a secret prison!” he replied with a conspiratorial grin.

The boy next to him rolled his eyes. “It’s not a secret if we know about it, silly.”

“Well yeah, but hardly anyone knows it exists,” the first boy answered animatedly. “And we get to go.”

“No fair!” Ikki whined. “You don’t get to go anywhere that cool when you’re homeschooled.”

If the public-school kids were having more fun, she was going to throw hands.

“Sucks for you,” the boy sympathized. “But the crazy thing is, there’s only one prisoner. She’s so dangerous that they have to keep her away from everybody.”

“Wow, what did she do?” Ikki asked, bug-eyed.

“We don’t know. They aren’t allowed to tell us for security reasons. Not even the teacher knows.”

Ikki looked out towards the water and saw, with excitement bubbling up, a ship gliding towards them. “So where is this prison?”

“It’s on Penghu Island, built into a volcano.”

Ikki was mind-blown by the prospect of all that personal space. “I’ve never been to a volcano before, but I know they’re as big as mountains, so that’s got to be like having an entire house to yourself!”

She bet she could keep a whole herd of bison in there!

“I know right? I’d kill for that.”

The ship finally docked, and the excited chatter rose an octave as the gangplank was lowered and a man disembarked. He met the teacher, and they exchanged inaudible words. Ikki stepped away from the group to get a better view.

Wait a second – the man was White Lotus! She knew what the uniform looked like because she’d met Daddy’s friends before. Did this mean that they ran the prison? Did Daddy know about it? She _really_ had to go check this place out. She wondered if the prisoner was as scary as they made her out to be.

The teacher hung back as the students trickled up the gangplank, let by the White Lotus man, whom Ikki guessed was a guard. She stuck close behind the last of the kids, hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice that she wasn’t a student, despite the fact that she wasn’t in uniform.

No such luck.

The teacher, muttering to himself as he counted heads, stopped abruptly when he landed on Ikki. “Hey. You’re not one of my students.”

“No, but I’m coming too,” Ikki answered, trying to act natural.

“No you’re not.” The teacher crossed his arms and peered down his stern nose at her. “Now go back to your parents, kid.”

Ikki’s mind flashed to the White Lotus, and she blurted out, “I’m going to see my dad.”

The teacher frowned. “What?”

“My dad. He’s part of the White Lotus, like that man.” Ikki jabbed her thumb towards the mouth of the ship. That part was almost true, and now that she was sure of herself, the rest of the lie flowed out smoothly. “He works in the prison and I’m bringing him candy for his lunch break.” She pulled out the bag of rock candy.

The teacher hesitated. “Alright,” he relented. “Just stay out of trouble. Remember, I’m not responsible for you.”

“Gotcha.”

Nearly bouncing with excitement, Ikki followed him onto the ship.


	4. Chapter 4

“Where in Raava’s name were you?” a tomato-red Tenzin yelled when his daughter was escorted to him by two Fire Nation police officers. Found her on the docks, they’d reported.

 _Holy bison. All those cops just for me?_ The whole town was full of them! She would’ve thought it was neat if she wasn’t sort of in fear for her life right now. Ikki had never seen Daddy _this_ mad before. He looked exactly like one of those raging comic book characters, minus the steam coming out of his ears.

“We’ve been looking for you for nearly four hours! I told you not to leave the shop! I swear, if this was an attempt to get back at me for that argument earlier…”

Ikki hung her head. “I kept waiting but you guys never came back, so I thought you went to do something fun without me.”

“So you just wandered off by yourself?” Tenzin barreled on. “Ikki, you know better! Even in a relatively safe town such as this, anything could’ve happened! What if someone had taken you? What if you’d gotten hurt and we were nowhere near to help you?”

“I would’ve just gone to the nearest store for help. I’m not stupid,” Ikki grumbled impulsively, contriteness rapidly eclipsed by annoyance. Hadn’t he and Mommy taught her that?

“I never said you were,” Tenzin replied in a calmer tone, making a visible effort to collect himself. He crouched down to Ikki’s level and looked her in the eyes. “Look, I’m sorry I raised my voice. But you had me really worried. I was so afraid someone had taken you.”

“I’m sorry,” Ikki responded guiltily. “I didn’t mean for you to get worried. I really thought you guys had left without me and I got bored, so I went to find something to do.”

“Ikki,” Tenzin said with surprise. “Of course not. We would _never_ leave you like that. The reason we took so long was that the vendor ran out of fireflakes while we were already in the middle of the line, so we had to find another one. And that one had a long line too.”

“That’s some bad luck. I would’ve just gotten the firegummies instead.”

“Yes, that would’ve been the wise choice, wouldn’t it? Ah well, your mom is always saying I’m more stubborn than a deaf ostrich-mule. This is a good lesson for me as well.”

Ikki giggled. Then she looked around. “Where are Meelo and Jinora?”

“I left them at the police station while I went to search for you. Jinora wanted to split up to cover more ground, but I couldn’t risk her getting lost too. Come on, time to go.” He stood up and, thanking the police officers, took Ikki by the hand. “I understand why you did it. But I expressly told you not to move and you disobeyed me. You’re grounded for a week. No airball, no talking on the phone, no leaving Air Temple Island.”

Ikki pouted but didn’t protest. She had to admit it was fair. She was just glad Daddy wasn’t yelling at her anymore.

“I’m not trying to guilt-trip you, but I need you to understand, you can’t just go off on your own like that. Then I can’t find you, and the police have to waste time searching for you when they have important work to be doing. Understand?” Tenzin looked down at his daughter as they followed the officers back to the station, making sure she nodded. “So where were you?”

Ikki hesitated. If she told Daddy she’d snuck onto a ferry and gone to a secret prison and made friends with a criminal, she was toast. He’d probably start yelling again and ground her for even longer. So she answered, “I went to a shop across the street, then I went down to the docks. I was watching the ships.”

Like Uncle Bumi said, if you need to hide something, tell the truth, just not the _whole_ truth. Then fill in the gaps as needed.

Tenzin frowned skeptically. “For four hours? I’m surprised the police didn’t find you sooner.”

“I was walking around talking to a lot of people,” Ikki replied quickly. “I met a canoe man and a group of kids going on a field trip and a waterbender.”

Tenzin didn’t reprimand her for talking to strangers. He’d long since learned that it was a pointless expectation to have of Ikki.

Ikki thought about that waterbender all the way to the station. Her mind was swimming with questions. On second thought, living in a volcano didn’t seem so cool after all, not if you were stuck in a cage. And the heat. Spirits, _the heat!_ Poor Ming-Hua, she must be really lonely in there. She didn't even seem like a bad guy. Well, she _had_ killed someone, but maybe she didn't know it was wrong. She could be one of those crazy people who didn't know what they were doing, and that's why they needed to keep her away from everyone. Seriously, who _smiled_ when they admit they killed someone? That had given Ikki the heebie-jeebies. So maybe Ming-Hua was a little crazy. But even crazy people needed friends. 

Ikki debated asking Daddy if he knew about the prison, but then she’d give herself away. Besides, having a secret friend was fun – something all hers that she didn’t have to share with anyone.

She was absolutely going back to see Ming-Hua. She just had to figure out how.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Present Day_ **

“How do you waterbend with no arms? Is it a psychic ability like Sparky Sparky Boom Man? Wait, you don’t know who that is…” Ikki pursed her lips thoughtfully.

“That’s…quite an interesting nickname,” Ming-Hua commented. “Who is he?”

Ikki shrugged. “Oh, just some firebender assassin who tried to take out my grandpa and his friends back in the day. He could shoot fire from his head! I can’t remember the word for that. _Combo_ something.”

“Combustion bender,” Ming-Hua supplied. “It’s a rare ability. I have a friend who’s one.”

“Ming-Hua,” Yang warned. Talking about her associates or anything related to the Avatar was strictly forbidden.

Ming-Hua rolled her eyes. “What? I’m not going into specifics, am I?” But she changed the subject and turned back to Ikki. “To answer your question, I create water arms and use them just like regular arms.”

Ikki’s eyes sparkled with rapt attention. “Can you do the octopus then?’

“You mean make eight water tendrils? Yes.”

“Cool! My aunt can do that too.”

Ming-Hua found it curious that a Fire Nation girl had a waterbender for an aunt.

“One time I got too close to her while she was practicing and she didn't see me. She smacked me across the face and nearly gave me a black eye. I didn't know water could hurt like that. Oh, she felt so bad.”

Ming-Hua let out breathy chuckle. “I bet.” She added seriously, “But be careful next time. Don’t ever come up behind a waterbender unannounced while they’re bending. Or any bender, for that matter. You could’ve lost an eye.”

Ikki gave a firm nod. “Okay, good to know. I’d like to keep my eyes. So how do you even bend the water to make your arms if you don’t have arms to bend with in the first place?” She tilted her head in that birdlike way. “Waterbenders use their chi to mimic gravitational pull, but I thought you needed arms for that.”

It was rare for Ming-Hua to be impressed by a child, but with Ikki it was quickly becoming a pattern. “Actually, you don’t. It’s hard to explain without showing you, but I use my whole body to waterbend. I use my shoulders, torso, hips, sometimes my head for maneuvers, but I also use my mind to direct the chi.”

“So if there was a puddle of water in front of you right now, would you be able to bend it without moving?”

“Yes.”

“That’s awesome! My aunt and my friend just use their arms.”

Ming-Hua nodded. “Most do. But I had to improvise.”

Ikki gave a dreamy sigh and flopped onto her back with her head pillowed on her arms, staring up at the mouth of the volcano. “That’s amazing. Sometimes I wish I was a waterbender too.”

Ming-Hua had never forgotten the feeling of water molding to her shoulders, as effortlessly as though it were a part of her. She ached to feel that again. She watched the unsuspecting child. Hopefully she would soon.

Ikki pulled herself up and stretched out her legs, leaning back onto her hands and rolling her ankles idly from side-to-side. “Are you from the South or the North? Or Republic City? How’d you end up here?”

“The North,” Ming-Hua answered.

“Ooh! Is it still full of sexist, classist people? My gran-gran is from the South. There weren't any other waterbenders there when she was young, so she went to the North with my grandpa to learn. But they wouldn’t let her at first just because she was a girl. That was _so_ not fair. They say things have changed since the Hundred Year War and now girls can even become the chief and guys can learn healing, but I heard some people at the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center say that the North still has a lot of backwards people. They said some other stuff too, but I’m not allowed to use that kind of language. All I can say is, they really need to bend some soapy water into their mouths.”

Ming-Hua gave a short bark of laughter. “You really know your stuff,” she remarked, drawing a beam from Ikki. “Things were fine in the main city and surrounding areas, but if you lived in one of the poor, outlying villages, you were out of luck. Not exactly a great place for an armless female waterbender. And aristocracy really isn’t my style. So I left. Of course, I couldn’t tell you what’s changed since I was locked up.” She tilted her head meaningfully towards the bars and rolled back her stiff shoulders.

“So I’m guessing you don’t miss it there?”

“Only the cold, fresh air and the snow. Otherwise, I could care less if all the glaciers melted and the whole place sank.”

Ikki exploded in laughter and nearly toppled over onto her side. “You’re so mean!”

Ming-Hua couldn’t help but laugh as well. It took them both a good minute to collect themselves. Even Yang was snickering.

“Do you know healing?” Ikki asked as soon as she was able to speak again.

“Yes. I don’t care for it, but it comes in handy.”

“How did you learn to fight? You obviously can, otherwise they wouldn’t need to lock you up. Did you parents teach you or did you go to school?”

“I learned by myself.” Ming-Hua uncrossed her legs and stretched them out in front of her, in a position similar to Ikki's. “Waterbending lessons were out of the question for someone with my _condition._ ” She drawled out the word sardonically, pulling it from her memory like a musty, uninteresting toy.

_It’s not fair!_

_We’d love to have you as a student, but well…it’s simply not possible with your condition. You understand, don't you?_

_I told you to put that childish fantasy out of your mind. This thing about constantly trying to prove that you can do everything a normal person can was fine when you were a kid, but you’re almost eleven. It’s time you grow up and face facts._

“Well, that's just wrong.” Ikki scowled. “My gran-gran was only allowed to learn healing before she finally convinced the master to teach her. But she didn’t want to heal. She wanted to fight, and boy did she ever! She fought in the War when she was just fourteen, and my grandpa was just _twelve._ ”

Ming-Hua noted the proud note in Ikki’s voice, and she didn’t doubt that the child looked up to her grandparents. She certainly had a bold streak of her own and a strong sense of fairness.

_If she were older, she might fit in well with us._

“I can relate. I didn’t really want to learn healing, but _anything_ was better than nothing. And it was only after they caught me practicing waterbending in secret that they even thought I was capable of learning. My mother said I might as well make myself as useful as possible, so she finally taught me healing.”

“That's good. So where do you live now? I mean, not _now_ now, but…”

Ming-Hua shrugged. “Here, there, everywhere.”

“So you’re a nomad who’s traveled the world?” Ikki's eyes lit up with excitement.

“You could say that.”

“My aunt was too before she went back to the South. You guys are _so_ lucky. I want to travel the world too, but my parents are always too busy to take vacations and Daddy just wants us to study and train all the time.” Ikki rolled her whole head up at the sky. “Don’t get me wrong, I like training, but _come on_ , I want to do something else with my life besides staying at the temple and carrying on the culture.”

Temple? Was Ikki a monk? Because she sure didn’t look or act like it. Before Ming-Hua could ask, Ikki had forgotten her exasperation and launched another question. “Do you have any siblings?”

“I had a little sister and an older brother,” Ming-Hua answered, before quickly redirecting. “How about you?”

“You’re a middle child like me!” Ikki squealed. “I have an older sister and two little brothers. I can’t wait until the baby is old enough to play. _I’ll_ actually be nice and not leave him out of fun stuff. We have an awesome family, but sometimes they get on my last nerve. Jinora can be so bossy and mean and she’s better than me at everything. Better student, better bender,” Ikki punctuated her words with hand gestures, “way more popular and blah blah blah. And Meelo shows off all the time and always has to get his way.”

Ming-Hua had absorbed everything, but one word had caught her attention. She smirked. “A better bender, huh? Looks like I caught you in a fib. You told me you weren’t a bender last time, remember?”

So that explained the training.

“Oops,” Ikki said quietly. “Okay, I lied, sorry. Yeah, I’m a bender, but I’m _not_ telling you what kind.” She folded her arms and fixed Ming-Hua with an almost-glare.

“Why not?” Ming-Hua asked with mock hurt.

“Because,” Ikki sighed, appearing suddenly downcast, “people pretend to like me just because they think it’s cool, but I know they don’t actually. And I don’t want you to do that.”

Ming-Hua couldn’t relate. Her waterbending was a core part of identity, something she took great pride in. She simply couldn’t imagine feeling the need to hide it. “I’m sorry you have to deal with that, kid,” she said, gentler than was normal for her. “It wouldn’t matter to me. But you don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Ikki responded, brightening. “I’ll tell you someday, just not now.”

Ikki was evidently not a waterbender, and she couldn’t be an airbender since that blasted Tenzin was the only one, Ming-Hua reasoned, unless he’d had kids since she’d been imprisoned. So that left earth and fire. Based on Ikki’s clothing, she guessed fire. But there _was_ a minority of earthbenders living in the Fire Nation.

Time, usually stagnant as the volcanic air, seemed to flow with Ikki there. Ming-Hua even forgot where she was on a couple of instances, until she registered again the bars. She learned that she and Ikki had a few things in common, such as their mutual disinterest in Pai Sho and their love of swimming and stargazing. Ikki could rattle off moon phases and constellations better than an encyclopedia. When the forty-five minutes was up, Yang moved to escort her out.

“Will you be back?” Ming-Hua found herself hoping to see Ikki again, in a way that had nothing to do with the possibility of escape.

“You bet,” Ikki declared, climbing to her feet. “Bye, take care!”

“You too.”

Yang was one of those people with an open-book face. As he turned to leave, he glanced at Ming-Hua, perhaps inadvertently.

His look was strangely reproachful.


	6. Chapter 6

Ikki caught her mother en route to the dining hall, bearing a basket of freshly harvested vegetables. “Hey Mommy! Need help?”

“Hi Ikki.” Pema smiled down at her daughter. “I’ve got it, but thank you. How did it go with the bison? I’m sorry I couldn’t join you guys. I’ve been nonstop all day.”

“No problem. It was amazing!” Ikki clapped, jumping up and down. “Meelo almost got charged because he let it rip near one of the calves and scared it, and Jinora and I helped another one that was lost on the beach. The mom was so happy she licked us.”

“Awww, that’s sweet.” Pema tilted her head with an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression. “Hmm, wandering off to places where they shouldn’t. I wonder who that sounds like.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ikki replied cheekily, returning a conspiratorial grin. “Anyways, where’s Daddy?”

“Last I saw him, he was heading to the plaza.”

“Cool. See you later, Mommy!”

“See you,” Pema called after her. “And tell him it’s almost dinnertime.”

Ikki found her father standing alone on the plaza, staring out over the bay. For a moment, she wondered if he was practicing standing meditation and thought about coming back later, before remembering her mother’s instructions. She was about to call out to Tenzin when an even better idea popped into mind. Smirking, Ikki slowed her steps and crept forward as lightly as she could. She was just within reach and was about to spring at him when he turned around at the last second.

Ikki shoved her hands behind her back. “Oh hey Daddy,” she said innocently.

Tenzin gave her a knowing smirk. “Nice try. But don’t you know it’s nearly impossible to sneak up on an airbender?”

Ikki laughed. “Okay, busted. But how did you feel that? I hardly stirred up any air currents.”

“Yes, well done. I almost didn’t catch you.” Tenzin patted her on the shoulder. “But you probably got too eager towards the end because you sped up.”

“Aw man! Patience is definitely not one of my virtues.”

Tenzin chuckled. “You’ll learn.”

“It’d be so much easier if I was just born with it. Oh, and Mom says it’s almost dinnertime.”

Ikki hesitated. She hated lying to her father, but she reminded herself that it was a necessary white lie and carried on. “By the way, can I go to Taiping’s tomorrow?”

Actually, she was planning to go straight to the prison. It was a twenty-minute walk from Taiping’s house to the docks, the ferry ride was nearly an hour, and it was another fifteen-minute walk to the prison. After all that _and_ the chores the guards had her do last time, Ikki had been so exhausted that she’d fallen dead asleep on the ride back. When she’d finally returned to her friend’s house, Taiping was cross with her for making her wait so long, and Ikki had to reassure her that she did not like her other friend better.

“Have you finished all your homework?”

“Well…sort of. I haven’t done the reading yet.”

“Get that done and then we’ll see.”

“Aww come on! It’s so hard! Can I _please_ just skip this one?”

“Nope. You know the rules.”

Ikki sighed and hung her head. “Alright. But it’s really hard and my brain is cooked. Can you help me? Mom is too busy with Rohan and Meelo.”

“Sure. I need to help Jinora first, and then I’ll be with you.”

Alright, now she had to lie again. Just one more time today. And she’d be extra good to make up for it. “Also, can you drop me off at the docks tomorrow? We’re going to meet at the ice cream shop.”

“Sure.” Tenzin took Ikki’s hand. “Now let’s get dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some clarification about the timeline, this takes place within the six-month interlude between Book 1 and Book 2. Rohan has already been born because this takes place after the Anti-Bending Revolution, so I fixed that minor detail about Pema being pregnant in the last chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s okay, Daddy, you can go,” Ikki told her father. “They’re probably just running late.”

They were sitting in a booth at the ice cream shop, supposedly waiting for Taiping and her parents. Tenzin had insisted on waiting with her, which made her very uneasy. She had to get him out of there before he realized.

Tenzin frowned. “I don’t know, Ikki. I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here alone.”

“Don’t worry,” Ikki said, trying not to sound impatient. “It’s too crowded here for any creepers to try anything.”

Tenzin looked around. “Alright,” he conceded. “But stay put until they come, understood? No leaving the shop under any circumstances.”

“Got it.” Ikki hugged her father. “See you later.”

“Have fun. I'll pick you up at the house at five o’clock.”

 _Bison dung!_

“Oh uh…actually, pick me up here.”

“Why?” inquired a perplexed Tenzin.

Ikki worked her mind like lightning. “We’ll be walking around the docks at that time.”

She forced herself to count to seven minutes after her father left. When she was absolutely sure that he was well en route to where he’d left Oogi, she made the familiar trek down to the docks. She was just in time to board the ferry, falling into step with the somber-faced factory workers commuting to Penghu Island. That day with the school group, the White Lotus man had explained that Penghu was a mostly barren island, with only the prison and a small factory. The workers, of course, did not know about the prison, believing it to be a White Lotus compound. The guards had their own ferry and the workers theirs. The latter was free and came every four hours. Luckily for Ikki, no one monitored who got on.

Like last time, she was the only child and got strange looks as she took her seat, but no one ever asked any questions. Ikki passed the time flipping through a comic book she’d brought along. She didn’t like to read, but she enjoyed looking at the pictures. When it was time to disembark, she went in the opposite direction from the workers, towards the prison.

“Back again, kid?” one of the guards commented.

“Yup!”

He cut straight to the point. “Same deal as last time. Forty-five minutes, and you’ll help clean the kitchen today. And you’ll have to leave that with me.” He motioned towards Ikki’s book.

Ikki nodded and handed it over. She liked cleaning, just not organizing. _Especially_ her room.

Ming-Hua was lying on her side with her back facing them as the guard led Ikki down the walkway. “Your little acolyte is back,” he announced loudly.

Ikki didn’t know why he called her that _. I’m a real airbender, not an Air Acolyte!_ But she couldn’t explain that without giving herself away. Usually when she told someone she was an airbender, she had to demonstrate it because they thought she was bluffing. Then they always wanted to know about Grandpa Aang and the rest of her family way way more than they did about her. Ikki didn’t mind when she was littler, but it got old. But what made her _really_ want to put an airball through the window (just not the one in Daddy’s study) was when people acted like it was the coolest thing ever but then got tired of her after like ten seconds and found someone else to hang out with.

But Ming-Hua already liked her without knowing all that. Ikki could tell her next time. Yes, next time for sure.

Ming-Hua rolled over, saw Ikki, and lazily pushed herself upright. “Hi, Ikki,” she said, yawning. “Good to see you.”

“Same.” Ikki plopped down in front of the cage and scooted as close to Ming-Hua as she could without pressing up against the bars. “Isn’t it way too early for a nap?”

Ming-Hua gave a wry smile. “Not much else to do around here.”

“You must have _something_ to do,” Ikki said, frowning. Surely Ming-Hua didn’t just sit around all day. She’d die of boredom!

“Oh yes,” Ming-Hua answered, and Ikki already knew it wasn’t going to be good because she sounded so sarcastic. “I sleep, jog in place, walk around the cage, stare into space, and make up stories.”

“So they never let you out? Not even for five minutes?” Ikki asked disbelievingly.

“Nope.”

Ikki’s jaw hit the ground. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard!”

She thought of the animals at wet markets and overcrowded kennels, crammed into cages. Everyone said it was cruel. How could they be okay with doing it to a _person?_

“Is it?” Ming-Hua replied, softer than she had a moment ago. Sad like. So different from how she usually was. “I could tell you worse.”

Worse? Ikki couldn’t fathom how it could be any worse.

Ming-Hua straightened and said in a more cheerful tone, “But let’s not ruin the day. Tell me what’s up with you.”

Ikki was about to launch into narration before catching herself. “Now I feel bad sharing because you’re stuck in here.” She turned and waved to the guard she remembered was named Yang as he came to take up his post. He smiled politely back and inclined his head in greeting.

“No need. As you can see, I’m in desperate need of entertainment.”

Ikki was more than happy to be of assistance. She told Ming-Hua all about her week: swimming in the lagoon, the bison, that evening in the dining hall when two Air Acolytes collided and dropped all their food, and lessons.

Often with people, Ikki would be talking to them and then they’d get this strange, glazed look in their eyes. But Ming-Hua was a great listener. She kept her gaze on Ikki the entire time without getting that weird look, never interrupted, and smiled several times.

_For a bad guy, she sure is nice._

“Wow, you’ve had a very interesting week,” Ming-Hua remarked when Ikki was finished. “But you’re really breaking my heart here, Ikki. You don’t like reading? I’d kill for a book.”

“Trust me, if you had to read the boring stuff I do, you wouldn’t either. They don’t let you have books in here?”

“Nope.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep coming back with lots of stories.” Ikki smiled brightly. 

Ming-Hua smiled back, which Ikki liked a lot better than the other expression that was sort of a smile but made her look unhappy and a little mean. “I’d like that. So. Flying bison? You live near them?”

“Yup! They live in caves on our island.”

“Cool. What kind of island is this?”

“Air Temple Island. It’s off the coast of Republic City.”

Ming-Hua stared. After a moment, she said, “Ah, that makes sense. You mentioned a temple last time. Isn’t that where that airbender Tenzin lives?”

Ikki gasped. “You know him?” she asked with delighted surprise.

“We go way back. He’s one of the ones who put me in here,” Ming-Hua answered offhandedly.

Ikki felt as though someone had suddenly doused her with a bucket of icy water. _“What?”_

 _Daddy_ had locked Ming-Hua up? In this awful volcano? _Daddy?_ No no, it couldn’t be true. Daddy wouldn’t do that. He was good and kind.

Ikki’s eyes flew to Yang, to his uniform. White Lotus. Dad’s friends were White Lotus. She covered her mouth.

“Ikki, are you okay?” Ming-Hua asked, and Ikki turned back to see the waterbender looking concernedly at her.

No, she was _not_ okay! Another terrible thought blasted into mind. If Ming-Hua knew Tenzin was her dad, she wouldn’t like her anymore. 

Ikki forced herself to take a deep breath. “Fine,” she lied.

“Time to go,” Yang said abruptly, looking between Ming-Hua and Ikki.

“I’ll come back soon,” Ikki promised Ming-Hua. She wished she could hug her.

Ming-Hua nodded, still looking at her strangely. “Take care.”

As she followed Yang upstairs, he asked her what all that was about. Ikki mumbled about knowing Tenzin because they lived on the same island but that they weren’t friends or anything.

_Why would Daddy do this?_


	8. Chapter 8

Tenzin found Ikki at one of the tables, chin resting on folded arms and staring glassy-eyed into space. She didn’t notice him approach until he laid a hand on her shoulder. She gave a start and snapped her head up.

“Hi. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” she replied sullenly. She stood up and began walking to the door without waiting for him.

“Hey, wait. What’s wrong?” Tenzin asked as they stepped onto the street. “Did you and Taiping have a fight?”

“No.”

“Hey.” Tenzin crouched down to her level and tried to meet her gaze, but Ikki immediately averted hers. “Talk to me, Ikki. Please, tell me what’s wrong,” he gently prodded. 

Ikki shuffled her feet uncomfortably, trying to look at anything but her dad’s face. She was simply bursting from suppressed questions. Well…maybe if she was extra careful, she could flow around the truth and still get answers. She finally looked up at him and took the plunge. “Do you know a waterbender named Ming-Hua?”

Tenzin blinked in surprise and instinctively looked around. “Let’s go somewhere more private. We’ll talk once we get back to Oogie.”

He stood up and, taking Ikki by the hand, led her to where he’d left Oogie, in a secure spot away from the crowds where the bison could comfortably await their return. Oogie nuzzled him in greeting, and Tenzin petted her affectionately before settling cross-legged on the ground beside her, gesturing for Ikki to do the same. She sat down across from him, pulling her legs up to her chest.

“How do you know about Ming-Hua?” Tenzin asked with a concerned frown.

“I heard some guys talking.”

Tenzin’s frown deepened. This was troubling. Did Ming-Hua have other, unknown accomplices who had discovered her whereabouts? “What guys?”

“White Lotus.”

Tenzin internally sighed in relief even as his irritation rose. How could they be so careless as to discuss a maximum-security prisoner in public? “Did you talk to them?”

“No, I just overheard them.”

“And what did they say?”

“Not much. Just that there was a waterbender in prison and…and that you put her there,” Ikki said cautiously. She held her breath.

Tenzin took in her apprehensive yet scrutinizing expression and nodded. “Yes, but I wasn’t the only one who –”

Ikki exploded, throwing out her hands. “How could you do that? Do you know how awful it is in there? They have her in a cage dangling over a volcano, it’s so hot that you feel like your skin is melting off and you're going to faint, and they never let her out or do anything fun at all!”

After visiting Ming-Hua, Ikki was always glad to get back out into the refreshing sea breeze. Her parents always told her to never take what she had for granted, and now she knew what they meant. Being in the prison, especially lower down where Ming-Hua’s cage was, reminded Ikki of getting too close to a campfire. The air itself felt wrong, stagnant and oppressive, unlike the friendly winds of Air Temple Island.

“How do you know that?” Tenzin asked slowly. Ikki spoke as though she’d experienced it firsthand, and a sense of suspicious unease crept into Tenzin’s bones.

“I heard them say so.” Ikki glared, crossing her arms.

“Ah. I understand now why you’re so upset,” Tenzin told her calmly. “You feel bad for this woman, don’t you? And you’re angry at me because I had something to do with it.”

Ikki nodded. “And you never told us. Kind of important info, Daddy,” she remarked in an acerbic tone that suddenly reminded Tenzin of the woman in question, before Ikki’s expression turned to one of sad confusion. “I know you’re a good guy, so I just don’t understand why you’d do that to her. I mean sure, she’s done bad things, but doesn’t locking her up like that count as cruel and unusual punishment?”

“Perhaps,” Tenzin replied somberly. “But it was the only way. Believe me, Ikki, I take no pleasure in making her suffer.” His only satisfaction was that Korra was safe.

Tenzin debated how much to tell Ikki. She was only a child, and it wouldn’t do to burden her with adult matters she wouldn’t understand. Yet she comprehended enough to be angry at what she perceived was unjust, and it was better to give her an explanation than to let her walk away with the wrong impression.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Tenzin continued. “Thirteen years ago, when Korra was four years old, Ming-Hua and three others tried to kidnap her. Thankfully, I, Korra's dad, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka, and some members of the White Lotus were there to stop them." 

“What?” Ikki hollered in utter disbelief. Her brain felt like it had been zapped by lightning. Ming-Hua hadn’t told her _that._ Moreover, Ming-Hua actually knew both Korra _and_ Daddy?! “Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything?!”

Then a crucial detail popped into mind, and Ikki held up her hands. “Wait. Hold on a sec. I thought she was in prison for killing someone.”

Tenzin nodded, feeling the prickle of irritation once again. Those sentries just had to run their mouths. “She did, but she was never caught. It wasn’t until we caught her trying to kidnap Korra that we found out what she’d done in the past.”

The guards had told Ikki the first time she’d gone back that she wasn’t allowed to talk to Ming-Hua about her crimes or anything Avatar related, which Ikki had found very weird. She couldn’t contain herself anymore. “Why did she try to take Korra? Did she hurt her? Who did she kill? Was it more than one person? Why did she do it?” she fired off without pause, leaning forward with her hands pressed against the ground.

“We don’t know about Korra,” Tenzin answered. “We’ve been asking her for years, but she won’t talk, and neither will her friends. No, thankfully they didn’t hurt her.”

Ikki felt relieved.

“As for who Ming-Hua has killed, three Northern Water Tribe leaders and two White Lotus sentries.”

Ikki drew a long gasp. “Oh…my…gosh. That’s just… _woah!_ ”

Killing anybody was bad enough, but this _really_ took the fruit pie! But if Ming-Hua was that bad, why was she so nice to her? It didn’t make any sense!

“Why?”

“The sentries when they tried to capture her, and as for the leaders, she’s never given a clear reason for that either.”

“‘No one who didn’t deserve it,’” Ikki mumbled, remembering.

“What?”

Ikki snapped back to the present. “Nothing. There’s still one thing I don’t understand. Why did you guys put her in a volcano? No matter what she did, that’s just wrong. You could’ve just put her in a regular prison.”

Tenzin shook his head. “We couldn’t risk her escaping and going after Korra again. The volcano was Lord Zuko’s idea. It’s hot enough that there’s no moisture in the air or any other sources of water nearby, so she can’t use her waterbending to escape. Besides, we had to keep her far from the public in case she had friends on the outside who might try to break her out. So you can’t go around telling others any of this, got it? This is important.”

Ikki nodded. She knew the drill. The guards had told her the same thing. “But how about Mommy? Or Meelo and Jinora?” She probably wouldn’t tell them, anyways. It pleased her that she was the only one who knew.

“Family is fine. But no one else. Oh, and another thing. Korra doesn’t know. I hate telling you to keep secrets, but please don’t say anything about this next time she comes to visit.” Knowing Ikki’s tendency to blurt out whatever crossed her mind, Tenzin doubted she’d be able to keep to that, but he’d cross that bridge as it came.

“Why?” Ikki inquired with a puzzled frown. “If a bunch of crazy people were after me, I’d want to know.”

“We never told her because we didn’t want her growing up in fear.” With the criminals locked away, there had never been a reason to tell Korra. But now that she was nearing adulthood…

“Perhaps I’ll tell her when the time is right,” Tenzin mused.

“I still think it’s awful that Ming-Hua is locked up like that, but I get it. But they don’t have to be so mean to her. Why don’t they give her a bed? Why can’t they let her out for a walk? Or give her something to do, like books or puzzles?” Ikki queried.

“It’s prison, Ikki, it’s not meant to be fun. It’s a punishment. Just like when you’re grounded and you’re not allowed to play airball or leave the island.”

Ikki couldn’t imagine a punishment lasting _that_ long. She mulled it over. “But Daddy, it’s been thirteen years. Don’t you think she’s learned her lesson by now and you can let her go? She’s probably changed. Besides, I don’t think she’ll get in trouble again if she knows she’ll just be thrown back in there. She’s not dumb.”

Tenzin shook his head grimly. “People like her don’t change, Ikki, as much as we want to believe everyone is capable of it. They’re set in their ways and there’s no reasoning with them.”

Ikki cast a look in the direction of the docks, picturing Ming-Hua sitting in that cage. There was good in everyone, wasn’t there? How long did someone need to be punished before it was enough? Until they were dead? Ikki knew that Ming-Hua would be too dangerous with her waterbending, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry that Ming-Hua would never be able to waterbend again. She’d heard that taking away someone’s bending was like killing a part of them. Did Ming-Hua feel that way?

Well, if she had to be stuck in there, then Ikki would just have to keep her as happy as possible.

That night, as Ikki was preparing for bed, she wondered if Ming-Hua had a bedtime. Probably not. She probably got to sleep and wake up whenever she wanted. At least she had that going for her. Forcing someone to go to bed when they weren’t even tired made no sense. The grown-ups said it was for their health, but it was probably just a fib to get them out of the way.

Ikki had just pulled back the covers when it occurred to her to wonder: How was it like to sleep on the floor? Only one way to find out. Besides, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes was important to understanding them, and Ikki wanted to understand Ming-Hua as much as possible. She turned out the light and curled up on the floor, pillowing her head on folded arms. Wait, Ming-Hua didn’t have arms. Ikki lowered them to her sides and lay flat on her back.

“How can anyone sleep like this?” she said aloud to the darkened ceiling. The floor was hard against her back, and her head was lower than the rest of her body, making her feel like she was upside down. She turned onto her belly. Now her neck was twisted and her face was smushed. She rolled back onto her side. Her bed had never seemed comfier.

The next morning at breakfast, Jinora took one look at Ikki and remarked, “Wow, you look like a lemur.”

“At least lemurs,” Ikki replied through a massive yawn, trying not to fall face first into her porridge bowl, “don’t have to sleep on the floor.”


	9. Chapter 9

Ikki emptied the last of the fruit from her basket into the lemur feeder. “Catch!” she called down to Jinora waiting at the bottom of the tree, playfully swinging the basket.

Jinora ran several feet away and held out her hands, and Ikki fired the basket towards her with an air punch. It shot over her head in a wide arc. “How am I supposed to catch that?” Jinora exclaimed as she ran after it.

“Oops!” Ikki laughed. Air punches were tricky. It didn’t matter when she was practicing on dummies, but when it came to launching projectiles, she either put too much force or too little.

She forwent the ladder to jump down softly to the ground as the lemurs flocked to the feeder. She knew better than to try to pet them while they were eating. A nipped finger when she was smaller had taught her well.

“Good thing I’m not Meelo. He would’ve blasted it to pieces.”

“True.”

Jinora sent the basket back to Ikki with an expert air punch of her own. Ikki was about to continue when Jinora said, “Wait, let’s not use the basket, we’re going to break it. Let’s find something else.”

Ikki looked around. What could they use? She had a shiny rubber ball in her room, but she was _not_ waiting until they got back to play. She eyed the fruit in the feeder. No, she couldn’t steal the lemurs’ food. Her gaze landed on the gazebo, which stood a stone’s throw away from the tree. There were no chairs, but she did keep cushions on the floor. It was one of her favorite spots to do homework, leaf through comics, or practice the horn because it gave her a clear view of the lemurs.

"Wait a sec." Ikki raced inside, snatched up a plump blue cushion, and went back out to Jinora. “I have an idea,” she announced with a grin, holding it up. “We throw this back and forth just like a ball, except we can’t touch it. We have to use our airbending.”

“Sounds neat,” Jinora said eagerly. “So do we only use air punches, or are other moves allowed?”

“Anything. It’s a free-for-all!”

“Okay, but one rule. No aiming for the face.”

“Deal. I’ll save that for an actual pillow fight.”

“Oh, you better not!”

Ikki began by launching the cushion towards Jinora with an air punch, and this time it didn’t go way over her head. It fell slightly short, and Jinora lunged forward to intercept it with an air swipe. It flew low to the ground, and Ikki quickly bounced it up with an air cushion. Once it was high enough, she sent it towards Jinora with a blast.

They kept the game going until Jinora got tired. As they began walking back to the temple, a faint noise suddenly reached Ikki’s ears. She stopped short in the middle of the path. “Did you hear that?” she asked Jinora, cocking her ear towards the thicket to her left. 

“What, the lemurs?” Jinora replied, pausing to turn around. “Of course. They’re all over the feeder.”

Ikki frowned. “This sounded different. I don't think it was coming from there.” She strained her ears, trying to filter out the familiar noise of the feeding lemurs behind them. The sound came again – a pained squawking. “It’s coming from over there!” Ikki turned and ran off the path into the thicket. 

“Hey, wait up!” Jinora followed her as she parted branches and stepped inside, doing a curious sweep of the greenery.

The noise grew louder, and Ikki took a few more steps forward, rounding a thin tree. There, on the ground, was a lemur. Ikki gasped. “Oh no! Its wing is torn.”

Ikki knelt beside the lemur to get a closer look. It was barely bigger than a baby. On one of its wings was a bloody tear straight through the thin membrane. The lemur’s large, round eyes stared fearfully up at her.

“It’s okay, little guy,” Ikki said comfortingly, slowly reaching out. The lemur squawked plaintively, stumbling backwards and flapping its good wing.

“Careful, Ikki, it might bite you!” Jinora warned.

“It’s okay,” Ikki repeated slowly. She turned her hands palms-up like Daddy had taught her to show the lemur that she meant no harm. “I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you.”

Ikki stopped reaching for it and waited for it to come to her. The lemur shuffled forward and apprehensively sniffed one of her hands. Ikki held in a giggle as its nose poked into her palm, tickling her. Slowly, she reached up to pet it on its back, and it extended its injured wing as though asking for help. “I’m going to pick you up now. Don’t move, okay?” Taking care not to jostle its wing, Ikki gingerly placed her hands around its middle and lifted it. The lemur climbed up her arm to perch on her shoulder.

Ikki stood up and turned to Jinora, who had been taking in the scene with rapt, concerned attention. “It must’ve gotten caught in a branch,” Ikki concluded, looking around at the trees and recalling the time she’d been snagged while racing Meelo through the thicket. There were no predators on Air Temple Island that could’ve attacked it.

“Probably. Poor thing. Are you going to take him to Daddy?”

“Yeah. He’ll know what to do. Too bad Aunt Kya isn’t here to heal him,” Ikki said as they walked out of the ticket. She turned to the lemur and reached behind her to stroke its warm, fuzzy back. “But you’ll be okay. I’ll take care of you.”

The lemur crooned.

Ikki knew what to do with a scrape or a cut – first, wash it with soap and water to make sure it didn’t get infected. But she'd definitely need to do more with that nasty tear.

“Is there such thing as an animal healer?” Ikki asked Jinora. “Like a regular healer, except they only work with animals.”

“I don’t know,” Jinora answered thoughtfully. “Probably.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Lunch,” Yang announced, pushing the food tray through the slot.

“Thanks,” Ming-Hua replied, sliding forward to grasp it with a foot and dragging it towards her. She liked when it was Yang who delivered her food. He always told her if it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Measures of time served no utilitarian purpose, yet it was comforting to have some semblance of routine.

“Of course,” Yang answered, with a polite half-smile.

They never spoke more than that – fraternizing with the prisoner was not allowed. Not that the guards would have bothered, anyways. But while they never talked _to_ her, they certainly did not censor themselves when talking _about_ her. Some time later, long after she had eaten, Ming-Hua overheard a guard say to his colleague, in a deliberately loud voice, “Man, it’s so hot today. I can’t wait to hit the pool this weekend. Maybe we should let that one out. Then we’d all be a lot cooler.”

The other guard chuckled. “If she gets out, we’d be stone cold.”

“And probably beyond recognition,” the first one replied with a throaty laugh.

Ming-Hua rolled her eyes and continued pacing around the cage, getting what little exercise she could. Sometimes she jogged in place, but never for long because it only raised her body temperature even higher. She had passed out the last time she attempted to jog around the cage, back in the early days.

 _You love to flatter yourselves,_ Ming-Hua thought. It was almost funny how they thought they were worth the energy. She didn’t care about most of them, for better or for worse. They did their job, they left her alone, they were fodder for her idle mental storytelling. There _were_ a handful for which she may consider living up to that guard’s gory prediction, but if ever that chance came, she’d have more important things to do than to enact a drawn-out revenge. 

As the day waned, her thoughts turned to Ikki. The girl always gave her much to think about, especially on her last visit. That she lived on Air Temple Island was a surprise. Ming-Hua had always assumed Ikki was Fire Nation. And she evidently knew Tenzin, but to what extent? She had looked absolutely stricken when Ming-Hua told her that he had been one of her captors, which implied some sort of close relationship. Was Tenzin her teacher, perhaps? Ming-Hua recalled from Zaheer that Air Temple Island was inhabited by Air Acolytes.

_Surprised to learn that Mr. Righteous isn’t so upstanding after all, kid?_

But Ming-Hua decided against forming any conclusions. Perhaps she’d taken more of an interest in Ikki than she normally would have, courtesy of her confinement, but Ikki was a fascinating, intelligent child. For all her animated, easygoing demeanor seemed to suggest that she was an open book, she was unpredictable and full of surprises.

While Ming-Hua didn’t know the exact distance from Air Temple Island to the prison, she knew it wasn’t close by. Even accounting for the most negligent of parents and the guards’ lackadaisical attitude, it still beggared the imagination how a child was able to continuously travel from the United Republic of Nations to this small Fire Nation island quite a way off the mainland – on her own. Initially, Ming-Hua hadn’t cared a lick. Ikki wasn’t _her_ child, and if the parents couldn’t be bothered to keep an eye her, it was no concern of hers. But once that prickling sense of worry had taken root, it became increasingly hard to tamper down. Ming-Hua knew firsthand the dangers readily available on the streets, sometimes hidden behind the most innocuous of faces.

Harder still not to recall another little girl, the elephant in that dining room of another life, the table of five with an empty seat.

Ming-Hua wondered when Ikki would next visit, and almost felt guilty about looking forward to it. Had she ever confided in anyone about her escapades? Ming-Hua imagined what would transpire if Tenzin were to learn about any of this. She could picture his face flushing the shade of a tomato, just like it did all those times she repeatedly stonewalled his questions about Korra. That would be an amusing sight.


	11. Chapter 11

“Are there animal healers?” Ikki asked, after Tenzin suggested bringing the injured lemur, whom Ikki had named Apricot Sunburst, to a clinic in Republic City.

“Yes, but they’re hard to come by. I know there’s an animal clinic somewhere in the United Republic of Nations, but none in Republic City,” Tenzin answered.

“Why aren’t there more?” Ikki asked.

“It pays less than a regular healer, which is unfortunate because animals need medical care just like people do. We’ll just have to hope we get lucky and find someone willing to take a look at our friend here.”

Ever rambunctious, Ikki got scraped and scratched so often that cleaning wounds was familiar territory. Apricot Sunburst seemed to have realized that the humans were trying to help and had stopped trying to fight the uncomfortable process.

The first healer they visited was affronted and slammed the door in their faces. Fortunately, the second one was obliging. “I’m no animal expert, but I did have someone bring in a wolfbat with a wing tear once,” he told them.

Ikki scrunched up her nose. She had seen pictures of wolfbats before and they were _ugly._

She watched in awe as the healer formed a watery glove and ran it over the injury. She had witnessed a healing session only once before and had forgotten how cool it was when the water suddenly glowed. When the healer lifted the glove, Ikki saw to her amazement that the wound was no longer gaping but covered with a very thin layer of skin.

“If it were a smaller tear, I could heal it completely,” the healer explained, “but that’s the best I can do. The skin is still fragile, so you’ll want to restrict its flight so that it doesn’t tear it again. Other than that, make sure it gets plenty of rest and it should be able to fly again in a few days.”

“Thank you,” Tenzin told him as Ikki scooped up Apricot Sunburst from the examination table. “I guess we’ll have to keep her in a cage.”

“No!” Ikki cried in alarm, Ming-Hua’s cage springing to mind. “How about that cloth tie thing you get when you hurt your arm? Would that work?” she asked the healer, thinking of a man in the waiting room who had been sporting one.

“A sling. Not a bad idea,” the healer replied. “I can do that, but it might try to wriggle out of it.” He fashioned one out of spare cloth and immobilized the wing by tying it to the body. Sure enough, Apricot Sunburst immediately began squirming in protest.

“Stay still,” Ikki ordered, holding her firmly in place. She looked the lemur in her orblike eyes and took on the tone her mother used when chiding her and her siblings. “If you keep fussing, you’re going to hurt yourself again. You don’t want that, do you?”

Apricot Sunburst blinked a couple of times before lowering her head and giving an abashed purr.

“Exactly. So be good.” Ikki giggled. “Slings look so weird on animals.”

The healer chuckled. “Your daughter’s great at this. She should consider going into healing.”

“Well…” Tenzin replied uncertainly, tugging on his beard.

Ikki’s joy at the compliment faded slightly when she saw her father’s reaction. Why wasn’t he acting proud of her? It almost seemed like he’d been told a bad thing.

Later in the afternoon, after lessons were over, Ikki headed to the gazebo with candy and her child-sized tsungi horn. The lemurs at the feeder didn’t mind her practicing in their vicinity, though Jinora said that her playing was so bad she was surprised they weren’t scared off the island. Right now, however, there weren’t any. The previously sunny sky had clouded over significantly, and Ikki hoped it would rain. Unlike Meelo, who hated getting wet unless he was swimming, and Jinora, who spent rainy days on the couch with a book, Ikki loved playing in the rain.

Fifteen minutes into her practice session, she heard the friendly pitter-pattering on the gazebo roof. “Yay, finally!” Tsungi horn instantly forgotten, Ikki ran out. She formed an air scooter and dashed around the property, keeping well away from the cliff and dodging the large rocks scattered around nearby. The rain quickly picked up intensity, drenching her hair and clothes within moments. The chill raised gooseflesh on her arms, but she didn’t mind. The air scooter became a wave and she an elephant koi, delighting in the sea spray against her face.

After she had tired herself out, she flopped onto the grass on her back. The rain had let up to a drizzle. For a moment, Ikki considered breaking the rule of never going down to the beach by herself but decided against it. Besides, she was starving. She pulled herself to her feet and went to fetch her tsungi horn before heading straight for the dining hall. 

Once inside, she immediately blew her clothes dry. Unfortunately, she neglected to notice the two Air Acolytes passing by her, engaged in conversation on their way out. They were greeted with an unwelcome spray of droplets and mud.

“Mind yourself, Ikki!” snapped the shorter Air Acolyte, wiping his face and blinking water out of his eyes in annoyance. “Don't do that in here. You could’ve ruined someone’s food.”

“Oop! Sorry,” Ikki responded, bursting into laughter as her newly-learned phrase, _madder than a wet hen,_ popped into mind. 

The men stepped out under their umbrellas. “I feel bad talking about a child this way, and I know she’s Master Tenzin’s daughter, but I don’t actually like her very much,” the taller man admitted.

“I can’t stand her myself,” his companion answered unabashedly. “Unruly, can’t keep quiet for two seconds. Not her sister, though.”

“Oh, no. Jinora is a delight.”


	12. Chapter 12

Ikki couldn’t sleep. She counted koala sheep, made up stories, and made up stories _about_ koala sheep. But she just wasn’t tired. She drummed her fingers restlessly against her blanket and stared out the window. Though it was the middle of the night, the landscape and her room were awash with silverly white light from a beaming full moon. If it hadn’t been in her line of sight, Ikki would’ve thought it was dawn already.

She always slept with the curtains open. She adored the canvas of stars and the moon made the perfect nightlight. Not that she needed one, because she wasn’t scared of the dark like most kids. If there were any lurking monsters, she could take them. They’d probably never fought an airbender before.

Ikki considered switching on her lamp and taking out her fingerpainting book, mess be darned, but she felt very stifled. She needed to get out into the fresh air and the water. Wait, the water? _You’re not allowed, dumb dumb,_ she chided herself. _If you get caught, Taiping won’t be able to come over this weekend and then you’ll be stuck playing Pai Sho with Jinora._

_Ewwww, Jinora._ Ikki did _not_ want to play with her. Still, she felt bad for being mean to her earlier. Jinora had asked if she wanted to play Pai Sho, to which Ikki blurted, “You know I don’t like that game. Why don’t you ask one of the Air Acolytes since they love you so much, Little Miss Perfect?” Jinora had looked confused and hurt, which gave Ikki satisfaction…for all of five minutes before she began feeling like bison dung. It wasn’t Jinora’s fault. But she just couldn’t bring herself to apologize.

Tomorrow, Ikki decided, and settled on another decision immediately afterwards. “Alright, moon, meet me outside in five minutes.”

She changed out of her pajamas into playclothes with military speed. Raspberry Sunburst, lying in a fluffy blanket nest by the foot of the bed, woke and gave a questioning croon. “Shhhhh,” Ikki whispered to her. “I’ll take you out to play once your wing heals, but right now I’m on a secret mission. Go back to sleep.”

She snuck down the hallway and out the door as quietly as she could. The island was so safe (the Equalists had been the only threat in its history, and they had never returned) that no one worried about going out alone, even at night. It was being caught past her bedtime that posed the danger. Too bad she couldn’t brag about it because it would knock the pants off of everyone to know what an expert she was at sneaking around.

“Thanks for waiting,” Ikki told the moon, face splitting into an excited grin. “What should I do now? Cartwheels? Climb trees? Climb the giant rock pile by the gazebo?” Then the most tempting idea reared its head again. “Or…I could go to the beach,” she said slyly, cocking her head in that direction. No one was around to catch her, and she wouldn’t get in the water, so it was perfectly safe.

Unless the Unagi jumped out and ate her.

“Don’t be silly, it can’t swim all the way here from Kyoshi Island.”

Or could it? That thing was ginormous, and Ikki bet it could cover a lot of distance. Or maybe there was a different sea monster right here in Yue Bay that no one knew about?

Ikki shuddered, then huffed and crossed her arms. “Get a grip, Ikki, you’re giving yourself the heebie jeebies. If there were any sea monsters here, they’d be eating ships and it’d be all over the radio.” She squared her shoulders and marched on.

The lagoon was her usual haunt since the water was calmer than the open bay. But tonight, Ikki found her feet changing course toward the latter. She had never seen it at night before. This was an adventure! Making her way down the mountain, she marveled at the unseen symphony of nightlife. Crickets and nightbirds serenaded her from the trees and bushes, and Ikki wished she could see them all and ask them what they were called. They sounded very different from the day birds.

When she reached the beach, Ikki immediately slipped off her shoes. The sand was cold and soft like pudding between her toes, but the small object she soon treaded on was most assuredly _not._ Ikki yelped, more from surprise than pain, and pulled up her foot. Good, not bleeding. She must have stepped on a seashell. As bright as the moon was, it wasn’t enough to make out those tiny hazards. “Shoes. Got it,” Ikki conceded, putting them back on.

She stopped a few feet away from the edge of the water and gazed out, mesmerized. Churning waves scattered moonbeams across the black surface before crashing onto shore, and Ikki thought that the whole bay looked like a healer’s glove. She suddenly wanted very much to step into all that glowing water. Just her feet wouldn’t hurt. But as she drew closer, she couldn’t work up the nerve and decided to remain safely on dry land.

“I bet there are a lot of waterbenders out practicing right now. Maybe Gran-Gran and Aunt Kya are awake too. They better not get into a fight because they’d wreck each other plus the house with all that moon power.”

Ikki wondered whether Ming-Hua could see the moon from her cage. She felt a sudden, strong pang of loneliness. She missed her friend and wished she were here to enjoy the fun with her. Then she tsked and shook her head. “Ming-Hua and Daddy on the same island? _Rrreeeow!_ ” She made like a cat and clawed the air ferociously.

Ikki then proceeded to amuse herself by tossing air discs out toward the water, playing one-sided fetch with the moon. A wave came in, and she quickened its retreat with an air blast that sent water and mud spraying into the air. She cheered. “Fake waterbending!”

The breeze licked playfully at her face, thick with the almost tangible scent of salt. Ikki took hold of it and, with a laugh, spun it around herself like a cool blanket flecked with tiny drops of water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments! It makes me so happy to see you guys so engaged, emotionally responsive, and relating to the characters. That has always been my intention. These are our stories as well as theirs.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Ikki approached Jinora as the older girl was gathering up her materials after their first lesson of the day. “Hey, Jinora,” Ikki said self-consciously, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet with her hands behind her back.

“Hello,” Jinora said disinterestedly. “If you need notes, you’re on your own.” Tenzin had given up on trying to keep Ikki awake, and she had slept through the entire history lesson. 

“I’m good. You’re still mad at me, huh? I totally get it. Look, I’m sorry I was so mean to you yesterday.” Ikki hung her head. “Some stinky stuff happened, and I guess I just took it out on you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” _I was just jealous._ But Ikki would rather clean up lemur poo than to admit that to Jinora.

Jinora’s expression softened. “Thanks. Yeah, you’ve been in a mood. Did something happen with the Air Acolytes? You mentioned them when you snapped at me.”

For the last two evenings, Ikki had been strangely unsociable but refused to disclose what was bothering her. Pema had even checked her for a fever.

“Nothing important,” Ikki responded, shrugging it off. “It’s silly. Let’s just forget about it. Want to go teach Meelo that game I came up with?” Meelo had dashed out to use the bathroom as soon as the lesson finished. 

“Sure, if you don’t fall asleep in the middle of it.”

Ikki lifted her chin. “I only fall asleep during history lessons.” She made it regularly known, much to Tenzin’s chagrin, that she just didn’t see the point of memorizing a bunch of boring stuff that happened forever ago.

“Not if it’s Water Tribe history,” Jinora replied with amusement. “Then _I’m_ the one trying to focus while you're taking notes and asking a million questions.”

Water Tribe history constituted only a small portion of their curriculum, but Ikki excelled at the subject and always wanted to go beyond the scope of Tenzin’s lesson. She was intrigued by their culture and Meelo by their military.

“True.” Ikki smiled triumphantly. There _was_ something which she was the best at.


	14. Chapter 14

Ming-Hua passed the time after breakfast mentally narrating the couple’s spat she had invented for the guard who had brought her food and the girlfriend she once heard him mention. She looked up when she heard the walkway extending again, and her spirits immediately lifted when she saw Ikki standing there, accompanied by a guard.

“Hi, Ming-Hua!” Ikki waved vigorously.

“Hello!” Ming-Hua called back.

One moment, Ikki was on the other side of the walkway. Then, before Ming-Hua could process what she was seeing, she had dashed across and was right in front of her. Ming-Hua blinked, wondering if the fatigue, a byproduct of malnourishment and chronic heat exhaustion, had addled her senses. “How…did you run that fast?” She could have sworn that a normal person would not have been able to cover that distance in the span of time that Ikki just did.

“Huh?” Ikki was momentarily puzzled. Then she realized with a jolt of panic and quickly played it cool. “Oh, that. It’s a gift. I’m a lot faster than most people. So how are you?”

The lack of air currents in the volcano meant that it was easier to decrease air resistance and bolster speed. Airbending was so second-nature that sometimes she did it without thinking – unless it was a move requiring more skill, of course. _Oh my gosh, please don’t figure it out, you’re going to hate me…_

Ikki knew that she would never be able to tell Ming-Hua the truth about her. Since Tenzin was the only adult airbender, Ming-Hua would figure out that she was his daughter. And Ikki seriously doubted the waterbender would take kindly to the child of the man who had done this to her.

Well, Ming-Hua had certainly heard of people with unusual abilities, such as that thug Yakone. Still…something did not sit right with her. The brief flash of fear in Ikki’s eyes had not escaped her notice. But she let it go – there were more pressing matters to address.

“I’m as well as can be expected. And you?”

Ikki noticed that Ming-Hua looked tired, same as last time. She assumed it was the heat. It made people sluggish, especially if they were dehydrated. She bet that the guards didn’t give her a lot to drink.

“Pretty good.” Ikki sat down in her usual spot and leaned forward eagerly. “I’ve been _dying_ to see you. I missed you.”

She had a full hour this time, in exchange for extra chores. Ikki definitely liked cleaning a lot less now. The guards left the kitchen a mess – dirty dishes piled up, grease everywhere. _Yuck. Didn’t your parents teach you anything?_ And they made her do all the work, too! What was she, a maid? Except Yang. He was shy and hardly talked, but at least he was civilized. Too bad he wasn’t here today.

Ming-Hua smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad to see you too. How are you getting here all the way from Air Temple Island, anyways?”

Ikki caught herself before mentioning Oogie. Non-airbenders could also ride sky bison – albeit rarely – but better not to risk it. “My dad drops me off. Then I take the ferry.”

“I’m assuming he still doesn’t know.” At least Ikki wasn’t unaccompanied the whole time.

“No,” Ikki answered slyly. She didn’t feel guilty about tricking her dad anymore. The guards let her; it wasn’t like she was doing anything shady. And if grown-ups had private time that they didn’t share with her, then she was entitled to it too! “I wait for him to leave, then I walk down to the docks. He thinks I’m meeting my friend. And I’m back by the time he picks me up, so he never suspects anything.”

“Wow. I’ve met adults with worse time management skills,” Ming-Hua commented. “You’re pretty sneaky, aren’t you, Ikki?”

“I’m like, the sneakiest person ever. Thanks for noticing.” Ikki loved that about Ming-Hua. 

She had memorized the ferry schedule – numbers were easy to remember – and learned to negotiate a pickup time that would enable her to make it back to the ice cream shop before her dad. The first time had been a scarily close call, but she was smarter after that. Indeed, her parents had even complimented her for having gotten good at managing her time lately, no longer running late for meals or lessons.

“Hard not to. By the way, how do you know Tenzin?”

Ikki inwardly cringed. She’d been hoping that Ming-Hua would’ve forgotten about that by now. _Duh, would you?_ She couldn’t read the woman’s expression, but she sounded surprisingly unbothered.

“We’re just neighbors,” Ikki responded with a dismissive shrug, feeling even more uncomfortably hot than she usually did in here.

“Cool. Are you an Air Acolyte?”

“Yup.” It technically wasn’t a lie. Air Acolytes learned the same things as airbenders, minus the obvious.

“I’m surprised he’s not your teacher, then."

_Oh gosh, please stop asking!_

“He teaches me stuff once in a while.”

Ming-Hua knew there was more to it than Ikki was letting on. The girl’s demeanor was way too nonchalant and vague compared to her dismayed reaction of last time. Like she was trying to distance herself from any association to the man. But her true feelings showed through with her next words.

“Look…I’m really sorry him and the others put you in here,” Ikki said solemnly, gazing up at Ming-Hua with a strangely doleful expression.

“Don’t be,” Ming-Hua replied, shaking her head. “It has nothing to do with you.” Though she abhorred pity, it didn’t feel insulting or patronizing coming from Ikki. In fact, Ming-Hua subtly encouraged it at times, knowing Ikki would be more suggestable if she saw her in a sympathetic light. She disliked using the girl like this, but when it came to even the slightest chance of freedom, nothing was off limits.

Ikki bit her lip. “If it makes you feel any better, I yelled at him for you.”

Ming-Hua chuckled incredulously. She would have loved to see it. “Did you now? Much appreciated. So you told him about me?” The fact that Ikki was still here meant that Tenzin was none the wiser about her visits, at least. 

Sure enough, Ikki answered, “I didn’t tell him I know you. I just bent the truth a little – actually, a lot.”

Ikki had to hold her breath to resist asking Ming-Hua why she had killed those three Northerners and tried to kidnap Korra. She didn’t want to get kicked out and not be allowed back. _Still, this is so wrong!_ As much as she wanted to believe her dad that there was no other way, the more she thought about it, the more she just couldn’t. _You don’t need a volcano to keep water away from a waterbender._ Wouldn’t the Fire Nation know that? They had done it for years during the war. Ikki knew all about those prisons, and she used to think that was as cruel as it got. But _this_ , holy spirits!

“Nice. Anyways, do you often go off the island into Republic City?” Ming-Hua asked conversationally. Years ago, she had associates living in the capital. Perhaps she could take advantage of the fact that Ikki lived nearby. It was an extremely long shot, but the only one she had.

“Sometimes. Not as much as I’d like. Have you been there?”

“No,” Ming-Hua lied. Couldn’t have their guard chaperone suspecting what she was up to. “But I’ve always wanted to go. I heard they have an amazing park.”

“Yeah, I love it there.”

“I bet. Do they have one of those ponds with turtle ducks and lotus flowers like you always see in pictures?”

“Of course! Ooh, lotuses are my favorite flowers, besides fire lilies.”

“Really _?_ ” _Perfect._ “Mine too.”

“That’s so cool. What’s your favorite color? I like yellow and red.”

 _Even more terrific. She’s making this so easy._ There was almost no chance the guard would suspect anything since it was mostly coming unprompted from Ikki.

“White and red,” Ming-Hua answered, smiling. The white part she added just to be safe. The White Lotus knew that the Red Lotus existed, but nothing else, for they operated in sleeper cells and kept an extremely low profile. Her captors had never discovered her affiliation. Therefore, the topic of lotuses would not raise suspicion if she played it right.

“I think lotuses are so underappreciated,” Ming-Hua stated, ignoring how her heart was pounding in her ears. “They make great centerpieces, yet I never see them at restaurants or in houses. Have you?”

“No, why’s that? They always use other flowers. Roses are _so_ overrated.”

“Agreed. You could easily substitute a lotus for a rose. It’s more vibrant. Hey, next time you go into the city, let me know if you see any. I can’t believe I miss flower watching of all things.”

Red lotuses slipped in among restaurant or home decoration signaled an ally or a safe space. Worth a try.

“I will,” Ikki vowed enthusiastically, glad to do Ming-Hua a favor.

“Thanks. So anyways, what’s been happening with you?” Ming-Hua asked, relief mixing with adrenaline. Now she would just have to wait and see. _No false hopes,_ she sternly reminded herself.

“A lot. My friend came over last week and we had a great time.”

Ikki then told Ming-Hua about going to the beach that night and how pretty the water had been under the full moon before she suddenly remembered the waterbender’s situation. “Oops. Sorry, should I not talk about that? I don’t want to make you feel bad,” she said guiltily.

Ming-Hua did feel a strong stab of jealousy and yearning, but she found that she didn’t want Ikki to stop. “No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. But thank you,” she added appreciatively. “What did you do while you were down there?”

“I played fetch with the moon,” Ikki answered, and Ming-Hua wondered what kind of play-pretend that was. It sounded quite creative. “Oh, and I stepped on a seashell. Everyone always talks about drowning, but no one ever warns you about _those._ ”

Ming-Hua rolled her eyes playfully. “The horror. Be glad it wasn’t a sea urchin.”

“What are those?”

“Spiky sea creatures found in shallow water. They can really pack a sting.”

Ikki made a mental note to ask if there were any in Yue Bay. “Do you have them up North?”

“Nope, it’s too cold. I received an unpleasant introduction later in life.”

“Did you step on one?”

“Yup. Hurt like a bitch.”

“Ooooh, potty mouth!” Ikki snickered.

“Sorry, I forgot you’re an innocent little girl,” Ming-Hua replied breezily, anticipating Ikki’s reaction.

Ikki immediately folded her arms with an indignant expression. “Hey! I’m not little.” But she didn’t mind Ming-Hua teasing her because it was the fun type and not the mean type. She gestured with an open hand. “Curse all you want. By the way, could you see the moon from here?”

“Nope. It’s not always in my line of sight.” Ming-Hua nodded up towards the opening of the volcano.

“Oh. That’s too bad. You’re not a bloodbender, are you?”

“No.”

Learning bloodbending had never made it onto Ming-Hua’s agenda. It had been challenging enough mastering psychic waterbending to this extent. Not that bloodbending would have been of any use to her in here, without her arms. And psychic bloodbending did not allow for full-body control, rendering it ineffective for escape attempts. Besides, the guards kept well out of her range during the full moon as a precaution.

Ikki looked relieved. Bloodbending was the stuff of nightmares. “Good to know. By the way, do you feel any different during the full moon even though you don’t have any water?”

“Definitely.”

“Sounds like it’s a bad thing,” Ikki remarked, noticing Ming-Hua’s unenthused tone.

Even when the moon was out of sight and she could only see its glow indirectly, Ming-Hua still felt its pull – all that pent-up energy with no means of release. Even at night, it was too hot for vigorous exercise. “It’s uncomfortable,” she answered vaguely, unwilling to admit something so personal with their guard chaperone within earshot.

“How does it feel? If you’re okay talking about it,” Ikki added quickly, remembering that some people didn’t like talking about uncomfortable subjects and that it was rude to press.

Ming-Hua decided to indulge the girl. Besides, the guard was probably only paying half attention at this point. She could see his eyes glazed over with boredom beneath his helmet. “Stronger, but restless. Like there’s all this energy running through my veins, pulling me. It makes it almost impossible to sleep.”

The full moon used to feel invigorating. Now it was just more discomfort – something once nurturing warped into a punishment. In the initial months of her imprisonment, Ming-Hua wondered if being completely cut off from her element would weaken the moon’s effect on her. She hated wishing it were so.

Ikki tilted her head. “That’s a waterbender thing? I thought everyone felt that,” she said with a puzzled frown.

“No,” Ming-Hua said slowly. “Do you?”

“Yeah. It’s like, weird,” Ikki responded. “You explained it perfectly just now. I can never sleep when it’s full moon. I used to think it was the light, but I’ve tried closing the blinds and it doesn’t make any difference.”

“Do you feel the urge to be near the water?” Ming-Hua asked, with rapidly growing interest.

“Yeah!” Ikki liked playing in the water anyways, but now that she thought about it, she always took extra long showers or got forbidden thoughts of the beach whenever it was full.

“You know, I’ve never heard about a non-waterbender being so strongly affected by the moon,” Ming-Hua remarked with amazement.

Non-waterbender. There it was again. Not a waterbender, not airbender enough.

“Ugh!” Ikki suddenly groaned, covering her ears for a moment. “No need to remind me that I’m a disappointment!” _Woah. Did I just say that? Why did I just say that?_ Now she felt foolish.

Ming-Hua was surprised at the girl’s knee-jerk reaction. “That’s not what I meant,” she said, not unkindly. “Why would you think that?”

“Because it’s true,” Ikki answered sourly, scowling down at her shoes.

Ming-Hua frowned. “Did someone say that to you?”

Yesterday, a father and son had come to Air Temple Island from the South. The father, a waterbender, had come to see off his teenaged son, a nonbender who would be joining the Air Acolytes. Ikki had peppered the father with questions about life in the South and waterbending (What were his favorite moves? How did they work? Could he psychic bend? Could he make a ton of snowballs and throw them all at once? Wouldn’t it be unfair to go penguin-sledding with a non-bender because the waterbender could just cheat by bending the ice to go faster? Did Northerners get discriminated against when they visited?), which the kind man had patiently answered in detail.

During dinner, the son had lightly remarked, “I’m sure you’re a great airbender, Ikki, but it’s too bad you’re not a waterbender. Dad would love to have a student like you.”

Ikki was extremely pleased…but then her dad had joked, “Want to trade?” Ikki hadn’t found it very funny, but everyone had laughed, so she went along. Later, she couldn’t stop wondering if she really would make a better waterbender than an airbender. Why else would Daddy have said that?

“No, but they might as well have because they’re all thinking it anyways. And I know they don’t like me because they _did_ say that.”

Ming-Hua did that quick tsking thing that Ikki sometimes did herself. “Well, then they’re nitwits. Don’t let them mess with your head, kid.”

“Yeah. Nitwits and mean. And what’s that word for when you say to do something but don’t do it yourself?”

“Hypocrite?”

“And that! Grown-ups always tell kids, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything,’ but then _they’re_ the ones talking smack behind your back.” Ikki clenched her fists, feeling her fingernails digging into her palms. “Like, man or woman up and say it to my face!”

“I know exactly what you mean. Did something like this happen recently?” Ming-Hua inquired, observing how quickly Ikki’s mood had descended from cheery to irate.

Ikki recounted the incident with the Air Acolytes, leaving out the airbending part and saying instead that they were mad at her for going into the dining room all wet and muddy – which was technically true. “One of them dropped something, so I went back out to give it back. And then I heard them talking.” Ikki told Ming-Hua what they had said about her and Jinora.

“Wow. Jerks."

“Yeah. But so what? Big deal. I don’t need them anyways.”

But Ming-Hua knew that, for all the girl’s forced indifference, it had cut her deeply. She could see it in the way that Ikki had curled slightly into herself and was avoiding eye contact. At that moment, she could have cheerfully lashed those people with a water whip.

She was not the comforting type. With anyone else, she would have told them that it sucked and to just grow thicker skin – and she did almost say it now. But she took in Ikki’s expression and caught herself. “You’re right, you _don’t_ need people like that,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.”

“It really did. I think even my dad loves my sister more,” Ikki said glumly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. _I can’t believe I’m talking about Daddy to his enemy. I must be a few slices short of a fruit pie._

Ming-Hua’s gaze softened. “Do you want to tell me about it?” she offered, keeping her voice gentle. She wasn’t keen on getting pulled into this family drama, but she disliked seeing Ikki so downcast.

“They’re always spending time together, he doesn’t run out of patience with her like he does with me, and it’s like, whatever I do doesn’t even matter because she can do it better. And she’s just _better_ overall. She’s so smart and patient and mature and I’m…not.”

“Understandable,” Ming-Hua acknowledged. “You hate feeling second best to your sister, and you’re jealous that your dad seems closer to her.”

“Yeah, it stinks!” Ikki exclaimed, glad that there was finally someone who got it. She found herself telling Ming-Hua about the Southerners and about her dad wanting to trade her, again omitting any mention of airbending. She wouldn’t normally have admitted any of that, but with Ming-Hua it felt okay. Like she wouldn’t be judged or told she had it wrong or lied to just to make her feel better. (‘No, of course not, Ikki, your mother and I love you all equally.’)

“I know it was a joke, but…I think he meant it.”

“That was a joke in poor taste,” Ming-Hua said reprovingly. _Salt in the wound, nice work._

“No one ever says they want to trade my brother, and _he_ gets into more trouble than I do. I guess I’m just annoying because I’m not that good of a student and I talk too much and interrupt people. But I don’t mean to, it just comes out! Oh my gosh, do I annoy you too and you’re just not showing it?” Ikki’s eyes grew round with worry.

“Not at all,” Ming-Hua answered without hesitation. “Far from it. And I have no problem telling people when they’re getting on my nerves, so you don’t need to worry.” Kids were no exception. She’d had her share of entitled parents mouthing off when she refused to tolerate their beastly children.

But Ming-Hua found it odd that Ikki had mentioned interrupting because she never experienced that problem with her. Regardless of how Ikki acted with others – Ming-Hua couldn’t speak for them – she had noticed that the girl listened as well as she spoke. Perhaps it was only an issue in group settings or when one wasn’t giving her their full attention? Her little sister, she recalled unexpectedly, had been that way.

“But I’m going to level with you, alright?” she said, and Ikki nodded, leaning forward attentively. “Do you wish you were more like your sister?”

Ikki sighed. “Yeah,” she admitted dejectedly. She told herself sometimes that Jinora was a boring goody-two-shoes, but maybe then Daddy would be more proud of her.

“Stop comparing yourself to her,” Ming-Hua said firmly. “And when others do? Don’t give a crap – it’s a _them_ problem, not a _you_ problem. Oh sure, they’ll make it seem like it is. People – and parents have this down to an art – always want you to meet their expectations. My parents regularly told us what disappointments we all were. Made a real game of comparing us to each other _and_ the other kids in the village.”

Ikki’s jaw dropped. “No way!” she exclaimed, appalled.

Ming-Hua nodded. “Absolutely. My brother always let it get to him. He was miserable. Me? I could care less.”

“ _How?_ ” Ikki demanded incredulously. “Geez, your parents are horrible people. Didn’t that hurt at all?” She felt a stab of indignation toward Ming-Hua’s parents. How dare they treat their children that way?!

“At first, before I lost interest. What they or anyone else thought of me was their problem. Had nothing to do with me.”

“Is your brother a waterbender too?”

“Yes. You want to know if I was jealous of him?”

“Are you reading my mind, lady?”

Ming-Hua smirked and lifted one shoulder slightly. Ikki wasn’t sure why, but this side of Ming-Hua unsettled her a bit. It was…cold. Yet it wasn’t off-putting, either.

“Well, the answer is yes. I was always trying to prove that I could do whatever he could, waterbending or not. Then I got tired of it and realized I didn’t need to compete with him – just myself. If your dad and those Air Acolytes get along better with your sister, it doesn’t make you a disappointment, got that? Your personalities simply don’t match. Sometimes people will like someone else better than you. Or not like you at all. Not your problem.”

Ikki nodded slowly, trying to process everything. “That makes a lot of sense. No one’s ever said it like that before. I think it’s awesome that you don’t care what anyone thinks of you. You’re your own woman.”

“So are you. Well – _girl_ ,” Ming-Hua told her, with a little smile. “Just own that.”

Ikki grinned. “I will. Thanks, I feel so much better now. You don’t sugarcoat anything, but you’re honest without being mean.”

“Anytime.”

“And just so you know, I like you a lot. I don’t care that you did bad stuff ages ago. If I could hug you, I would. Unless you’re one of those weird people who don’t like hugs. Then I’d just give you a high five – with feet.”

“Much appreciated,” Ming-Hua replied, amused.

Now that she was observing Ming-Hua more closely, Ikki realized she had never paid attention to just how long her hair was. It fell past her waist. “Wow, your hair is so long. I’m growing mine out too, but I don’t want it _that_ long. Can I touch it?”

Ming-Hua blinked, taken aback by the strange request. “Sure,” she said, a little hesitantly. “But be very careful not to touch the bars, you’ll get burned.” This close to the volcano, the metal was scalding.

Ikki cautiously reached in and took a handful of the jet-black locks falling over Ming-Hua’s left shoulder. “Why’s it so rough? And so tangled?” She was expecting it to be soft like Mommy’s, but it wasn’t at all. It felt more like weeds.

“Not many spa supplies in here.”

Ikki suddenly remembered something she had seen an Air Acolyte do with her girlfriend. She reached up and brushed a stray lock out of Ming-Hua’s face, tucking it carefully behind her ear. Ming-Hua stiffened at the unexpected contact – small fingers brushing across her cheek and her ear, surprisingly gentle. It felt so foreign. 

“Better?” Ikki asked, with a kind smile.

Ming-Hua nodded. “Thanks,” she said softly.

Then, noticing something else about Ming-Hua, Ikki asked, “Why are your eyes gray? They’re the darkest shade of gray I’ve ever seen. I thought all waterbenders had blue eyes. Or blue mixed with other colors.”

Ming-Hua shrugged. “Just genetics. Most do, but not all.”

“Well, I think they’re super pretty. I’ve never seen someone with black hair and gray eyes before. Most people in the Fire Nation have black hair but with amber eyes. Isn’t it cliché that your eyes remind me of stormclouds?” Ikki giggled.

Ming-Hua chuckled. “Thanks. Life is full of clichés.”

She took note of Ikki’s eyes in turn. They were the light gray of steel, but with none of the hardness. Come to think of it, she had seen that color before – Tenzin's. They’d had plenty of time staring each other down for her to register that fact.

“My whole family is multicolored. My mom and baby brother have green eyes, my sister has brown ones, my aunt has teal ones – which I think are the prettiest – and my other brother and dad have gray ones like me. Hey, I bet you could pass as my aunt!” Ikki suggested delightedly.

Ming-Hua let out a little laugh of amazement. “Well, that’s…you have quite the imagination.”

“You too. You said you like to make up stories to pass the time. What do you come up with?”

Ming-Hua certainly wasn’t going to give their bored chaperone – or all the colleagues he was bound to tell – an ego boost by admitting that she invented stories about them, so she simply said, “Anything, really. Just everyday stuff about random people.”

“Ooh! Can we play that game where one person starts the story and the other one adds on to it and it keeps getting sillier?” Ikki clasped her hands together and bounced excitedly in place.

“Okay. You start.”

Ikki didn’t even pause for thought. “Once upon a time, there was a koala sheep who liked moon cakes. But the other sheep in the pasture always ate all the lotus flowers, so there was nothing left to make the paste,” she said in the even tone of one reciting poetry, before breaking off into snickers.

Ming-Hua smirked, shaking her head slowly in amusement. “To remedy the situation, the koala sheep decided to move to the city where he would have easy access to overpriced lotus paste from the stores.”

“Ha! He thought the stores were a rip-off, so he bought a piece of land outside the city to grow his own lotuses so that he could fulfil his dream of opening his own…” Ikki trailed off and looked invitingly at Ming-Hua.

“Pastry shop!” they declared in unison, sharing a grin.

Ikki loved when Ming-Hua smiled like that.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Traumatic flashback, nightmare

_She struggled as hard as she could – thrashing, squirming, trying to kick or punch out – but the woman held her in a vice-like grip._

_Her captor’s breath hot on her cheek, the menacing growl in her ear. “Stop moving or I’ll shock you.”_

_Cloth over her mouth, the chain digging into her wrists._

_Disdainful green eyes staring down at her – without a trace of pity. “Awww, are you going to cry, little girl?”_

_No, she would not. She would not!_

_The scary masked man prowling amongst them._ _Blinding stage lights, cheers from the faceless crowd._

_Equalists standing guard. Was this how criminals were treated? How could it be a crime to be a bender? She couldn’t help how she’d been born._

_Daddy’s helpless expression._

_She wanted him to break free and save them. Because that was what dads were supposed to do._

_But he couldn’t._

_No one was coming to save them._

_Staring down at the dull brown of the stage, wishing it would just swallow her up._

_I hope it doesn’t hurt…_

Ikki's eyes flew open. Darkness. Where was she? Were were they? She jolted upright. Her eyes darted frantically around, relief washing over her when the familiar shapes of her nightstand and wardrobe materialized in the semi-darkness instead of that masked man and his Equalists. The blanket had gotten tangled around her legs, and she kicked and tore at it with sudden repulsion until it fell away. She rubbed her wrists and shook them out, trying to throw off the ghost of that chain.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. No Equalists here. Everything’s okay,” Ikki told herself, trying to take deep breaths. She shivered, feeling jittery all over. Her pajamas were damp with cold sweat and her heart felt like it was going to explode. 

Did she still have her bending? She formed an air ball. “Whew!”

Ikki didn’t dare go back to sleep. She wanted Mommy! But then she remembered that Mommy had hardly slept since Rohan’s birth, so she shouldn’t bother her.

A puzzled, half-irritated sound lifted her spirits, and Ikki leaned over the side of the bed to scoop up Raspberry Sunburst. Her wing had since healed and she now split her time between the outdoors and her favorite human, sometimes sleeping in her room. Ikki held the lemur against her chest like a teddy platypus-bear – but not tight enough to hurt. “Sorry, did I wake you up? It wasn’t my fault. I had that stupid nightmare again. Ugh, I’m seriously going to bang my head against the wall. But does it count as a nightmare if it actually happened?”

Raspberry Sunburst didn’t know, but she thought so.

Ikki scratched her favorite spot on her back. “Did you know that some people like to get tied up for fun? They’re so weird. I _hated_ it, but I guess it’s different when you know it’s a game and you won’t get hurt. Otaku’s cousin Dai was visiting him yesterday and he showed us this trick where he made Otaku tie his wrists together, and then he got out just like that!” Ikki subconsciously rubbed her left wrist. “He wouldn’t tell us how because he said it was a trade secret. Then Otaku asked if he liked being tied up in the bedroom too, and Dai told him to get his mind out of the gutter. Whatever that means. They wouldn’t tell me. Don’t you hate inside jokes?”

Raspberry Sunburst hated them, unless she was in on it, of course.

“Same. Can you sleep here tonight? I really don’t want to be alone. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Daddy.” Turned out that lemurs had to sleep on the floor after all.

Raspberry Sunburst said that yes, of course she would stay and protect her from the nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was heavier than usual and uncomfortable to write, but I couldn't just gloss over this part of Ikki's story. I doubt that what those children were subjected to at the hands of the Equalists wouldn't have created some trauma. That will be explored in greater detail in later chapters. 
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for your comments! I don't always respond, but not because I don't want to. I read every one and they make me very happy. I just have social media anxiety and get mental blocks when I try to post or respond to comments. That being said, I'm making an attempt to be more responsive, so feel free to continue sharing your thoughts! I'm down to nerd out or fangirl about anything.


	16. Chapter 16

“You’re not coming with us?” Ikki asked, disappointed.

Tenzin gave her a warm smile. “I need to stay and take care of Rohan. Next time, okay?”

“We could just bring him. I’m sure he’ll like the park.”

“Yes, but your mother needs a break. Babies are a lot of work, and I want her to enjoy the day with her friends.”

Ikki understood, but she couldn’t help feeling upset at the dumb baby for ruining the fun. He did that a lot.

The children had been thrilled to learn that Tenzin was giving them the day off in the middle of the week. Pema was meeting her friends for Tai Chi in Republic City Park, and it had been decided that she would take her older children along while Tenzin stayed at home with Rohan.

“Are you sure?” Ikki wheedled. “You need a break too. Just get one of the Air Acolytes to babysit. Come on, we can play tag!”

Tenzin shook his head and patted her shoulder apologetically. “Tell you what. Let’s do it after lessons tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Many city-dwellers were milling about the park, taking full advantage of the delightful weather. Pema and the children waited underneath a tree at the designated meetup place and were soon joined by her two friends. Ikki remembered the older of the two women from a previous occasion but was immediately captivated by the stranger. She looked several years younger than Pema, with a round face, almond-shaped eyes the color of honey, and long brown hair pinned back with silver barrettes.

“Kids, this is my friend, Yasho,” Pema introduced. “Yasho, meet Jinora –”

“Hi, I’m Ikki,” Ikki eagerly greeted, stepping forward before Pema could finish introducing them all. “I love your sparkly hair clips. You’re so pretty. How old are you? Do you want to be friends?”

Yasho chuckled warmly. “Twenty-nine. And thank you, it’s nice to meet you, Ikki.” She held out her hand, which Ikki clasped for a moment longer than necessary. 

Jinora wanted to read a while before joining her siblings, so Ikki and Meelo went a little way down from where the adults had set up to play with the large rubber ball which Meelo had brought. “You have a crush on that lady, don’t you?” Meelo snickered, bouncing the ball to Ikki.

“I do _not!_ ”

“Yeah you do. You keep staring at her. Ooh, you like Mommy’s friend,” Meelo said smugly. “I’m going to tell.”

“Don’t you dare!”

But with a laugh, Meelo sped off back to the adults before Ikki could catch him. “Excuse me, pretty lady,” he said to Yasho, “but my sister has a giant crush on you.”

“Meelo, I’m going to kill you!”

“You can’t hurt me, we’re pacifists!” Meelo announced gleefully, as Ikki chased him across one of the stone bridges extending over the park’s large pond, an amused Pema calling after them not to go too far.

“Speak for yourself!”

Ikki tackled him on the other side of the bridge, and her indignation quickly dissolved as they rolled over each other in the soft grass. “Got you,” she declared triumphantly, managing to get a secure grip on Meelo’s wrists and pinning him down. He struggled admirably for a few moments before finally saying, “Okay, okay, truce! Now get off me.”

“Ooh, Commander Meelo admits defeat?” Ikki smirked down at him, then released him and stood up.

He accepted her proffered hand with a grin. “What do you want to do now?”

“I don’t know. Want to go back for Jinora?” Ikki checked to make sure that she could still see the adults, for they had been instructed to always stay within Pema’s line of sight.

Meelo cast a look at the pond, a conspiratorial smile stretching across his face. “Nah. She won’t be down for my genius idea. Let’s go fishing.”

By fishing, Ikki knew that he meant catching and releasing. The Air Nomads considered fishing for sport to be an unprincipled waste of life.

“You know we’re not allowed.”

“So? No one’s watching. I dare you to try to catch one.” Meelo wagged his eyebrows.

Ikki matched his expression. “I have a better idea. Let’s see who can catch one first.” She looked over her shoulder. “If Mommy or anyone else comes over, we’re just playing with the fish.”

They knelt by the pond and stuck their hands into the cool water. After a few minutes of snatching at the flitting fish to no avail, Ikki commented, “This would be so easy for a waterbender.”

Ikki had never seen Ming-Hua waterbend, but she found herself trying to imagine what she would do. Probably just bend the water out onto the grass, fish and all. Or maybe trap them in a water ball? Ikki observed the small bubbles that had formed from Meelo’s most recent failed attempt and pursed her lips in thought. She couldn’t do a water ball, but maybe an air ball would work? She formed one and lowered it to the pond, where it immediately dissolved – but not before sending water spraying out at her and Meelo like a rotating fountain.

“Thanks a lot, Ikki,” Meelo grumbled, spitting as Ikki blinked water out of her eyes. “Now I got fish pee in my mouth!”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby, it won’t kill you.”

“What are you guys doing?” Jinora had come up behind them, carrying three kites.

“Just playing with the fish.”

“Well, come on, let’s go fly these.”

With Jinora accompanying them, they could all venture further into the park. Remembering her promise to Ming-Hua, Ikki suggested keeping close to the pond so that she could watch out for lotuses. She found a few patches of growth scattered here and there – all of them pink. Pretty, but not her favorite color.

They flew kites and played around until it was time to eat. Yasho had insisted on treating everyone to a meal at Narook’s Seaweed Noodlery, so no one had packed any snacks. By the time they took a cab over, Ikki was so hungry that she could have eaten the flower vase right off the cashier’s desk.

It was not the imaginary culinary appeal that drew her attention, however. A bold red bloom stood out amidst the arrangement of white gardenias. Curious, Ikki went up to the desk and stood on her tiptoes to get a closer look. She gasped in delight.

A red lotus!


End file.
